Unexpected
by Chuuuups
Summary: "Eric saved me. When I thought I was going to die," her voice cracked, "when my feet were dangling above the Chasm, Eric came." Or in which Eric is the one to save Tris from the Chasm incident and not Tobias.
1. Prologue

**UNEXPECTED**

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_When you'd cried I'd wipe away all of your tears_

_When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears_

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_Tris could still remember how it felt to hang above the Chasm; at that moment she had accepted her death. But she wasn't dead; that night was just the beginning of a ride she hadn't expected living when she chose Dauntless._

_Or ~ in which Eric is the one to save Tris from the Chasm incident and not Tobias._

_._

**AN: This 'prologue' was written so that you know from when I am taking Divergent over. **

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**Prologue**

Sleeping was apparently not an option for Tris that night. After a few hours of staring at the ceiling and listening to her fellow initiates' snores, she got up so that she could stretch.

She walked to the fountain in the corridor, keeping a hand on the stoned wall to steady herself in the darkness. As she bent over the fountain, she heard whispers coming from the corridor around the corner. Her curiosity was too strong; she didn't really think when she walked as silently as she could to the end of the corridor, the voices becoming clearer.

"There have been no signs," it took her mere seconds to recognize the deep voice as Eric's.

"As I thought; it's not noticeable at this stage of initiation," a woman's voice answered. That voice was awfully familiar but she couldn't recall where she'd heard it before.

"Just keep searching for any signs of Divergent rebels during stage two of initiation," the woman continued.

Tris almost gasped when she heard the word 'Divergent'. Heart beating painfully hard, she leaned her body against the wall and slowly bent around the corner to find out who the woman was.

"Never forget, Eric. Never forget why I chose you."

"I won't."

"I know you'll fulfill your mission," she said with affection.

Tris recognized Eric's silhouette in the darkness. She forced herself to breath slowly and deeply. Only few more inches and she could discover who the woman with the cold voice was.

Someone grabbed Tris roughly and a hand clasped on her mouth. She didn't even have the time to make a sound of protest.

.

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AN: Lyrics at the beginning were from My Immortal by Evanescence. Don't worry the story is not that angsty :P


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Tris had been blind-folded; her arms ached from where Al had been gripping her. She still couldn't believe it was her friend who attacked her along with Peter and one of his acolytes. She was struggling with every bit of strength left in her not to flip over the railing. It was even harder to stay put on the ground because of the darkness she was left in; she was terrified. Two strong hands, Al's, were closed on her forearms pressing them harshly to her back while another hand was crushed on her mouth so tightly that she could taste blood.

"Come on, you useless fuckers! Push her into the Chasm already!" She could hear Peter's voice.

One of her feet found the edge of the Chasm and her breathing became even more ragged; she begged unheard words through the boy's hand.

"Hey!" Someone called from behind. It was a deep voice and apparently the man distracted the three initiates because Tris could feel the hand on her mouth letting go. She hated being blind-folded, she wanted to fight. She attempted a kick and her foot met something hard. Just when she was hoping it was Peter, a fist hit her jaw hard enough to make her dizzy.

"Bitch!" and she knew it was Peter she kicked.

She still couldn't see a thing; it was all darkness for her. A sickening cracking noise came to her ears and then a thump. One of the three boys must have been beaten. "Shit!" Al muttered and his hands on her arms finally let go. Tris let out a whimper of relief.

"Where do you think you're going?" the deep voice demanded. Al was trying to run away.

She instantly began to back away from the railing while hearing more punches and groans from behind her. Her hands flew to her head to try to remove the blindfold. She needed to see. Looking around without seeing was frightening near the Chasm. But then two hands found her throat. She tried to scream but she choked, vainly throwing weak punches to her new attacker.

"I'm not going to let you escape Stiff," Peter's voice murmured near her ear.

He pushed her violently back to the railing and it collided hard with her back. She widened her eyes to the sudden pain. Tris couldn't even let a scream escape her mouth because of Peter's hands. Now her feet were up in the air and the dizziness was even worse. Suddenly Peter lifted her over the railing; the Chasm was underneath her. Peter just had to let go and she was dead. Tears filled up her eyes. _Please don't let me die. Please. Just make it stop._

"You should have run away," the stranger hissed.

The railing hit Tris hard in the stomach and she shrieked, the pain almost making her faint. Peter had let her go and one of her foot didn't find the ground while the other smacked against the ledge. Her hands gripped desperately on the metal bars as she whimpered. She didn't want to fall.

"No! I'm sorry!" Peter squeaked in a very unmanly voice.

"Try something like that again and you're out," the man threatened dangerously, "fucking coward."

Tris heard another thump and then running footsteps. It looked like the stranger had let Peter go. Two strong hands firmly held her waist and she was brought back over the railing to the safety of the ground. She couldn't stand, her knees hit the cold ground and then her cheek did.

"Hey Stiff, you're not dead, are you?" the deep voice asked.

His hand brushed her head, the blindfold was removed; she could see again.

The man's eyes were silver in the dark alley. She contemplated them lost in the ocean of blue and silver; what beautiful eyes. She spotted piercings above his left eye. Another on his lip. He had long black hair. Like Eric.

The dizziness was probably the reason why it took her at least ten seconds to realize that it was actually Eric. But she couldn't find it to be frightened by the young leader; she was too dizzy for that.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do?" Eric mumbled, studying Tris. It was the last words she heard before falling into unconsciousness.

Eric had been headed to the training room when he had heard the voices and spotted them at the Chasm. Three against one. He had had trouble believing it and had been even more outraged when he had discovered they were initiates.

That's how he ended up crouched beside an unconscious Tris and had no idea what to do. He looked around and saw Drew and the other boy finally managing to stand up; they limped away not tearing their terrified eyes from Eric. Peter was even worse of a coward; he'd left his two friends on the floor to flee.

"These cowards," he mumbled but then raised his voice to shout after them, "points will be taken for this!" He looked down at Tris. He had to focus on the task at hand.

Eric gave her little slaps on her cheek trying to wake her up. "Hey. Hey Stiff. Wake up." He shook impatiently her shoulders. "Wake the hell up!" When she only moaned in response, he stood up and ruffled his long hair in frustration. This Stiff was really getting on his nerves. Why did she have to bring up trouble like that? He was starting to think he could just leave her there lying on the floor, he hated her after all, and she came from Abnegation. He sucked at the piercing on his lower lip and scowled. He knew he couldn't do that; he was the leader in charge of initiation and this situation could get him in trouble, it was already fortunate that he avoided a murder among the initiates.

He cursed while gathering Tris in his arms. He decided he was taking her to the infirmary.

He carried her there quickly as she was light. Eric kicked at the door of the infirmary to pry it open. But it wouldn't budge. He frowned. He was going to put her down to try to force the door open when he spotted a note on the door.

_Infirmary closed. Some stupid kids set stink bombs in here and we had to evacuate everyone.  
Please come back tomorrow –if the smell is gone- and beat the crap out of those kids for me if you know who they are. In case of real emergency find me at my place._

_-Katie, head of the Infirmary_

"Great!" Eric said angrily. He studied Tris's face; she was no emergency, she just needed a bed. And maybe painkillers, he thought. He began to walk away with no destination in mind, thinking about his options. There was no way he could leave her in the middle of the Pit and he couldn't bring her to the dorms either knowing the three cowards were there and would probably try to kill her again.

"Stiff?" He tried again. "Can't you just wake up?"

That left only one option he guessed and headed to his apartment half-heartedly.

Finding his keys without dropping Tris was a hard labor he soon found out. At some point he had almost lost his grip on her and one of her legs had hung loosely out of his arm. He hadn't restrained himself from cursing continuously but stopped abruptly when the blond girl stirred in his arms and buried her face to his chest, hands clutching at the fabric of his black shirt.

His eyebrow went up and he glanced down at her, "Don't do that Stiff it's _disgusting_". Finally he managed to turn the key in the lock and impatiently slammed back the door with his foot when he entered.

The noise was so loud that Tris's head throbbed and she grumbled a few words to complain.

"So now that we're here you wake up, Stiff. Great. That's just great," Eric said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. She opened her eyes and winced at the light in the room. What was this room? Probably the infirmary.

He set her down and held her shoulders to steady her. She stared at his silver blue eyes, then hers widened and she jerked away, a shriek at the tip of her tongue. She was with Eric! As soon as she did it she regretted it and a moan escaped her mouth; her head throbbed again and she felt a dull pain on her back. Actually not only in her back, her whole body hurt, her stomach, her arms and even her shoulders because of how Al kept pulling at her arms. Al. She thought about him and her breathing became irregular. He tried to kill her. She couldn't see a thing. She was up in the air above the Chasm. She had almost died.

"Don't fucking freak out!" Eric barked as he threw his hands in the air. This Stiff definitely brought him trouble.

Tris's eyes widened and she looked even more panicked, now too aware of his presence. Eric quickly understood his mistake and tried to soften a bit. He didn't know if coming closer to her would make her freak out; she was obviously terrified of him and he didn't need her to have a panic attack. Everyone was scared of him and he could only blame it on himself; he had worked on this image. He had wanted people to fear him. So he kept a good two feet between them.

"You need to calm down now," he said as calmly as he could. "Try to take deep breaths," he motioned her with his hand when to inhale and exhale along with him. When she seemed to be steadier, Eric slowly approached her and tentatively settled his hands on her shoulders.

"You're safe here," he whispered as she stared up at him with blue teary eyes.

Without another word pronounced, the young leader gently pushed her to a couch and made her sit willingly.

Tris stared at him as he walked away. Eric was scary but so far he hadn't been too rough with her, so she stayed calm. Although why he wasn't acting like his usual sadistic self was a mystery to her. Her mind was too foggy; she had trouble focusing on thoughts. She just wanted to lie down and sleep. Thinking could come after sleeping.

She shuddered violently and rubbed at her arms. It was cold in here.

She could see bruises on her forearms and quickly she touched her jaw and her nose remembering Peter punching her there. She groaned, her jaw was swollen and hurt like hell. Did she have to get beaten up and almost die every damn week here in Dauntless?

Her gaze came to the couch she was sitting on and then to a bed at her right. How come there is a couch and a bed like that in the infirmary? Her jaw dropped when she realized she wasn't there but at Eric's place. Her eyes swept over the room; a table in front of her, a little kitchen counter to the left and then back to the bed. She jumped as she heard movement and her head flew to the right; Eric emerged from what must be a bathroom; her head throbbed again and she winced.

Eric came to her in lazy strides, took her hand and put pills on her palm, then walked away to the kitchen counter. He came back with a glass of water. Tris simply stared at him the whole time wondering why he was even taking care of her and tried not to think about the fact that she was alone at night with Eric in his personal territory.

"Here, drink this." He saw a look of incomprehension on Tris's face. "Painkillers," he clarified but the strange look was still there.

He stared at her. "Don't misunderstand Stiff. The infirmary was closed for some fucking reason and believe me I was tempted to leave you by the Chasm but then my position as a leader would be at risk." He paused. "I hate this situation as much as you do, if not more," he sighed, "now do as I say and drink those pills."

He let himself fall on the table so that he was sitting face to face with her. They stared at each other for a long minute.

"Can I sleep?" Tris quietly asked.

Eric honestly had no idea what he was supposed to do; he was regretting his decision to bring her in his private place when his eyes settled on her swollen jaw.

"Well fuck," he leaned to get a closer look.

She jerked back and made a little noise at the back of her throat.

"Tell me if you don't want me to check your bruises," he spat, "I'm doing you a favor right now."

She looked like she was searching something in his eyes and after a moment, she leaned in. He turned her head to the side one hand on her chin, the other pushing back her blond hair over her shoulder.

When he did so her heart jumped but she didn't let it be noticed. Her face was heating up embarrassingly; she wasn't used to proximity with males and his eyes were stunning and intimidating. As she looked up at the ceiling, she could only feel what he was doing. The girl felt his fingers skim over her bruise and pressing down on her chin with his thumb making her lips part without her consent.

"Open," he instructed and kept prodding her jaw with his other hand as his opened and closed her mouth repeatedly.

"Some ice will just do for that. Nothing's broken," he concluded. "Did they hurt you somewhere else?"

Tris nodded but then hesitated. She didn't want him to look at her bare back nor her stomach. And _when_ was she allowed to sleep?

Eric's annoyment was apparent on his face. "Stop being such a Stiff, it's not like I'd want to look at your body," he said nastily.

She glared at him but at least now she was determined to tell him. "Ok. O-On my stomach. And my back. The railing hit me."

"Well then, stand up," he said impatiently.

The poor girl winced when she tried to stretch and stand. Eric stayed sat on the table and lifted her tank top, just enough to see the damage, leaving most of her chest covered. At least he had some sort of decency, she thought. With him leaning so close to her she could feel his body warmth and his breath against her skin. She didn't feel the cold anymore.

He was surprised to see some muscles; the first stage of initiation must have changed her body. He studied the contusion on her stomach, his nosed scrunched up and with a hand of her hip he turned her around; he noticed goosebumps on her skin but didn't give a thought about it as he skimmed a hand over her lower back where the railing left a mark.

"You'll survive. You're lucky all your bones seem in the right place. Nothing that won't heal with time, so yeah," he said pulling down her shirt and stood, "I'm not a healer but it'll just feel like a muscular stiffness, I guess."

Tris sat back on the couch as quickly as she could without hurting herself because when Eric had decided to stand up from the table, their bodies were way to close for her comfort with him looming over her.

A wave of vertigo hit her and she squeezed her eyes shut.

"We're going to have to clean the blood away though. Don't know if you noticed but your face is all bloodied," he informed her in a tone that implied it was her fault. She frowned. Cold. She was cold again. And so tired.

He went for the bathroom and came back with a drenched cloth. With no words exchanged he sat back on the table and began to clean her nose. They were sitting close, she noticed when she felt his thigh brush against her knee. The size difference was striking; her small legs were completely trapped between his strong thighs.

Warm again. How can a body emanate that much warmth? She didn't care. She just knew that she wasn't cold anymore.

Tris studied his expression. He looked so concentrated. She caught a glimpse of an Eric she never guessed existed, he was actually caring. He was helping. Sadistic Eric who wanted to throw knives at Al and who made Christina hang above the Chasm. He looked just normal.

Her eyelids felt really heavy. She allowed them to close. 'Just for little while,' she told herself.

.

She opened her eyes to darkness and for a moment, she panicked; the feeling too similar to the blindfold. It took her eyes a moment to adjust. They widened at the sight of Eric's sleeping face in front of her. He looked so harmless and vulnerable in his sleep. And he took care of her, he saved her. She was sure it wasn't the first time for him, saving people, as a leader. She promised herself to thank him properly at a later time.

Apparently he had laid her on the couch while he had sat down on the floor, his arm resting on her chest holding something to her jaw. _Icepack,_ she realized. She clumsily took it and the gesture awoke Eric.

"I –I'll just hold it," she quickly whispered her eyes wide in the dark.

Eric groaned, nodded and through semi-closed eyes he glared at her and then headed to his bed. Tris heard a thump and she knew he was asleep again.

So she let herself fall back asleep too, trying to ignore how cold the temperature was.

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**AN: This is my first fanfiction! I'd love to hear what you think about that first chapter. English is not my native language so I hope you'll bear with the horrendous mistakes!**

**Many sincere thanks to Shadoows, my soulmate/ best friend/ unbiological sister, who encouraged me to write this story :P**

**All the love.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Tris woke up to the sound of the shower running. The muscles in her back protested as she sat up and looked around her. She ignored the pain in her whole body as she set the now warm icepack on the table. Surprisingly calmly she reminded herself that she was in Eric's apartment; and that she had spent the night there, alone with the dangerous leader. Oh God. Well at least she was still in one piece.

She took a glance at the digital clock on Eric's bedside table and noted that she hadn't missed breakfast yet. Of course there were no windows in apartments in Dauntless, she stared gloomily at the walls; she could use some sun right now.

When the stream of water in the bathroom abruptly stopped, she came back to her senses and stood up, not bothering to hold back a groan at the aches in her muscles; her body felt as if she had done a hundred sit-ups the day before, not that she could do that many sit-ups. Her jaw felt swollen and carefully she checked with the tip of her fingers.

Just then Eric stepped into the room. He was bare chest wearing only black jeans that hung low on his hips. His long black hair was still damp, sticking on his shoulders and she couldn't help but notice small droplets of water scattered on the skin of his torso. Didn't he own a towel?

Tris felt her cheeks heat up, she may have gasped when he entered the room; the young leader was obviously well-built and he was actually quite handsome when the sadistic look wasn't on his face. She could see for the first time his tattoo in whole. The base of his neck, his collarbone and shoulders were covered in black elaborated tribal patterns that she wanted to look for longer than appropriate.

He spared her a glance and then headed to his bed. He bent down to pick up a discarded bundle of cloth and Tris watched with interest the muscles of his bare back.

"How are you feeling, Stiff?"

"Well," she cleared her throat, cringing at how hoarse her voice had sounded, "I can stand. So I guess I'm fine." Injuries were not a big deal during Initiation; she already had her taste of it along the first stage and it would not stop her from continuing.

"Go back to your friends," Eric drawled, "oh and try not to be alone with the three fuckers; we could avoid a murder that way."

He then threw the cloth at her. Tris's movements were sluggish and if it hadn't landed on her shoulder, she would have probably dropped the thing. Her hands held it in front of her and she realized it was a sweater.

"Should've given it to you last night," Eric explained while eyeing her chest.

"No," she spluttered, "I mean, I was fine." She thought he meant that she was perhaps cold –even if that sounded out of character coming from the boy- but when she noticed his gaze, she glanced down at herself and realized with huge embarrassment that her tank top was ripped and dangerously revealing. It had probably been torn during the fight the night before. How could she have not noticed it earlier?

She quickly slipped into the black sweater; it was so big it reached the bottom of her backside and she fisted the end of its sleeves. It felt reassuring to have her body covered, like it was protecting her after last night's events.

Eric walked to the other side of his bed to pick up a simple black T-shirt that was lying on the floor; he put it on and tried to smooth down the wrinkles with his palm, his lower lip sticking out in his concentration. Tris wondered if it was a habit of him to wear the same clothes from the day before; she discretely brought the neckline of the sweater to her nose. It didn't smell sweat or anything disgusting. It was the opposite, she found the smell natural and oddly _warm_. She hastily dropped her hand when Eric turned back around.

"Thank you." She hoped she sounded honest because she now knew Eric wasn't only evil. If only people tended to thank him more often he wouldn't be such a jerk. Yes, she was shocked by his surprisingly gentle behavior but she couldn't help but feel some sympathy toward him. The Dauntless leader wasn't an angel, yet it couldn't help him when everyone feared him and hated him.

"Go away," he glared at the ceiling.

"Thank you, really."

She headed to the door, her hands closing in fists around the ends of her too-long sleeves. Once the door was open she stood still, not moving further outside.

"What is it now, Stiff?" he asked when she wasn't leaving.

"I don't know this corridor," she said wearily, waiting for an outburst from Eric.

He noticed the fear in her eyes and sighed.

"Come on I'll take you, Stiff."

She frowned. Now Eric was walking her to breakfast? She completely misunderstood him, he _was _kind. At least this morning. She didn't dare to comment it and waited for him outside his door, her hands shoved inside the warm front pocket of the huge sweater.

The walk to the cafeteria was silent; neither did say a word, yet it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. Eric was trying to guess who the kids that vandalized the infirmary were and Tris was too lost in her thoughts about the latter. He did seem kind and caring under his scary leader cover. But from what she had gathered the night before, he was working with Erudite. There was no doubt about it since the conversation she'd heard between him and the woman with the familiar voice. That man was a danger to Tris. The most reasonable thing to do was to be the smallest possible to avoid being further noticed by him. After yesterday's incident he would probably keep an eye on her and she couldn't afford that.

She peered at his broad back; as he was a few paces ahead of her she was able to do it without him noticing it. Stains of water were darkening his shirt because of his still freshly showered haired. The way his muscles moved when he walked was so foreign to Tris –no one was that muscled in Abnegation or in Initiation, nor was her instructor Four. Eric looked so strong and composed and powerful and dangerous.

Maybe if people tried –if _she_ tried- to show him respect he could drop the cover. She almost cursed at that thought. Why the hell should she care about him? It was probably one of her Abnegation traits. The priority was to not be noticed by him again.

When they reached the door of the cafeteria, Eric stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.

"Remember, Stiff. Keep close to your friends. Don't stay alone. At least not alone with the fucking coward trio," he instructed, his voice deep.

"Tris!" someone shouted from behind.

Tris turned away from Eric to see Four walking to them in big fast strides. "Four?" He looked angry but Tris could not remember what she had done wrong this time. She frowned and glanced back at Eric to find the spot where he was standing empty. He had entered the cafeteria. She didn't know why but she would have preferred him to stay just for the lecture Four was preparing to make. Maybe he would have stopped Four.

"Are you alright?" Four asked, sporting a concerned face his eyes roaming over her yellowish black and purple jaw. "What happened to you? Why were you with Eric?" then his face became expressionless again "A panicked Christina came to me this morning telling me you didn't come back to the dorms."

"I-" she began

"And then I walk into a very bruised Peter," he cut her with an accusing look in his eyes. "Can you or can you not tell me what the hell happened last night?"

"I-I was attacked by Peter and Drew," she paused, took a deep breath and ignored the tears menacing to fall down from her eyes, "and Al." She wished she wasn't so emotional. She wished people would ignore her bruises and restrain themselves from asking her what happened to her. She didn't want to recall. Odd is the fact that she hadn't really thought back about the attack all the time she was with Eric.

"What? What did they do to you?" he sounded angry. "Al? When you say 'attack' do you mean-"

"N-No!" she stammered, "no, I mean not like you think." God, couldn't he just let it go.

"Thank God!" he sighed, "Are you ok, Tris?"

"They wanted to push me down the Chasm," she looked down. Of course she wasn't ok. She crossed her arms, hugging the sweater against her stomach.

"I'm going to kill them," he strongly stated but then he did a double take. "Wait. You managed to get out of it? Did you beat Peter up like this? He's even worse than after his fight with Edward!"

She looked deeply into his eyes, wondering what his reaction would be to her revelation. Four loathed Eric. She continued to study his face when saying, "Eric is the one who stopped Peter." She paused for him to react. His eyes narrowed. "He saved me."

Four didn't say a word but appeared to be in deep thinking.

"I guess I should go," she turned back to the doors, breathing shakily.

"Wait. Don't look so fierce."

Tris frowned and he tried to explain.

"You need to look weak. Or else Peter will think he failed to scare you. And believe me you don't want him to think that. He'll just come back at you and this time maybe no one would be there for you."

She was angry at Four for asking her to do such a humiliating thing, but she knew he was right; she couldn't afford to let Peter stab her with a butter knife. She wasn't able to look so fierce anyway; the bruises on her stomach and her back hurt so much each time she took a step, that it required certain strength not to wince at the pain.

"Alright," she muttered, "but they did not fail to scare me," she laughed ironically. "I would have died if not for Eric," she said praying for her tears not to fall. She angrily pushed the door open but then she remembered she had to compose herself to look 'scared'.

_I should just let the tears fall. It'll make me look _weak.

Tris headed straight to Christina and Will, doing her best to conceal the anger that was burning inside of her. The girl wasn't one to _love_ punching but she could really use a bag right now to let out some of the steam. As she expected, it wasn't hard to look vulnerable; she focused on the pain her bruises caused at every movement she did.

She sat down, facing Christina and Will and looked down at her folded hands on her lap.

"Oh God!" Christina gasped. "Tris! What happened to you? Something happened last night, didn't it?"

Tris took a deep breath.

"I was attacked. They tried to throw me down the Chasm." Recalling the frightening night brought up the fear of falling down, the horrifying certainty of dying. At least she didn't need to hold back the tears anymore. She just hated the fact that everyone else could see her like this. It was humiliating. She hadn't seen if Peter or Al were in the cafeteria yet but the thought of them watching her every move was mortifying. Curse Four and his advices. She would rather cry in the arms of a friend somewhere quiet and intimate. Or in the arms of her mother.

"Who did this to you?" Christina asked with a sneer, already thinking of getting back at anyone who had injured Tris.

Uriah chose this moment to plop down on Tris's right. "Man, what happened?" The blond girl had never been this happy to see him; she scooted closer to him and he took her hand under the table without a word, his eyes usually crinkled with laughter were now serious and concerned.

"Peter, Drew," she let out a shaky breath, "and Al," her voice wavered at his name. Uriah squeezed her hand.

"Al?" they all shouted in unison.

"I don't believe it," Will added with wide eyes.

"I swear! I swear he was there!" she cried out, now tears were running down her cheeks. "God." She wiped them angrily.

"But are you alright?" Uriah asked worriedly.

A hand came in contact with her shoulder; at first she thought it was Uriah's but then she saw the skin of the hand pale white. Tris jumped and turned around to see Al standing there. He'd dared to show himself, after what he had done. It was unbelievable. But here he was, his face contorted in sadness and pain as if he had been the victim in the incident.

Tris instantly stood up, ignored the throb in her muscles, and glared at him in fury. She wiped away the remaining tears with her sleeve. Well, _Eric's_ sleeve, she noticed somewhere at the back of her mind.

"Can I talk to you?" he whispered.

That was it. She was so furious at him. He'd hurt her so much, he was her _friend_.

"No," she firmly stated. "Do not talk to me. You don't get to _almost _kill me and then talk to me."

He lifted his hand toward her, his face looked so genuinely sorry; but she was no Abnegation at the moment.

"Don't you dare to _touch_ me!" her voice cracked as she yelled. "Stay away from me! You show your face to me again and I swear I will make you regret it." She lowered her voice, "I thought you were my friend. You're a coward, Al."

"But Tris, I am your friend. I-I don't know what's wrong with me. Please believe me, I won't harm you ever again. I'm so sorry," he pleaded. Well she didn't know what was wrong with him either; but she could not stand close to him anymore without replaying the scene nor recalling the happy moments they had had only days ago. It was _disgusting. _And it was so _wrong_ to watch the huge boy begging for forgiveness; but then she recalled all the nights he had spent crying on his pillow. He was a coward; he had no pride, no right sanity to kill his friend.

Uriah stood up from his seat and came close to Tris.

"I think you'd better go, man," he cracked his knuckles for good measure.

Al's eyes darted everywhere. He was trembling; he opened his mouth but quickly closed it. And then he clumsily walked away as fast as he could without actually running.

Tris ignored the sympathy she was feeling for him. She _couldn't_ feel sympathy.

The whole table followed him with their eyes until he was gone. Uriah draped an arm over Tris's shoulder and gently led her back to the bench at the table. She groaned in pain when she slumped down too harshly.

"Come on, let's try to forget about him for the moment."

"We're here for you," Will reassured her while Christina moved to sit on Tris's other side and snaked an arm around her elbow.

"I can't believe they attacked you three on one. That is so unfair."

"I don't want to be rude, but how did you get away from them?" Will asked.

"Maybe they just wanted to scare her."

"Well, they succeeded then," Tris told them dryly.

"Is that your sweater?" Christina curiously asked with a smile and curved her eyebrow.

"No."

"So big. Did a man give it to you?" she was now wearing a large sly smile. "Your knight in shining armor?" she nudged the embarrassed girl.

"Really, Christina! Now's not the moment!" Will scolded her. "Ok. I think we should do something about Peter, Drew and Al."

"What? Fight them?"

"Holy shit," Uriah suddenly gaped, "Are you the artist of this piece of work, Tris?" He pointed a very injured Peter coming from the double doors. His face was completely distorted by bruises; his left cheek was a yellowish blue, his upper lip was so swollen that his mouth couldn't naturally close. Both of his eyes a bluish black. He was slightly limping and clutched his right arm to his chest.

Tris gasped and her eyes searched for a particular man. She found him in mere seconds. Eric sat at the end of an almost empty table; Max was sitting two seats away from him, scolding two children.

She focused her glance on Eric; he was smirking at Peter, his hand was on his lip absently playing with the piercing. Apparently he was proud of his 'piece of work', like Uriah had called it.

That was comforting. Tris was feeling massively less humiliated at the sight of a beat-up Peter.

Drew wasn't anywhere in view, she realized. He was probably in the infirmary but then it would mean that Drew was in an even worse state than Peter. She couldn't help but feel content. They had paid. Eric made them pay.

"Tris?" Christina called.

"So did you or did you not beat the hell out of Peter?" asked an impressed Uriah.

"Um, no. I didn't."

"Who d-"

"Eric," Tris cut. She thought she should as well tell the bunch of them about Eric if she wanted people to respect him. Ok, maybe she was feeling a bit Abnegation today. If they knew Eric saved her, they could be civil with him. She honestly expected shouts and questions from her friends. But instead, she was facing a really heavy silence.

"He saved me, ok? When I thought I was going to die," her voice cracked, "when my feet were dangling above the Chasm, Eric came. He's the one who beat Peter and Drew." She didn't want to add a word about Al.

"Wow. I'm surprised." Will talked first.

"Well, you know, he's not a leader for nothing," Uriah observed. "He's kind of cool. No, I mean, he's a dick but… he's strong."

There was a silence again.

And Christina squeaked. They all quirked their eyebrow at her.

"What?"

Tris knew she would not like what Christina had in mind. It appeared her friend lived to embarrass her.

"Your sweater!" she pointed at Tris who dropped her head in her hands. "It's Eric's!"

Will sighed heavily. Christina could really be silly at times. Tris opened her mouth, but didn't find anything to protest.

"So basically Eric, the ruthless Dauntless leader, becomes your hero and gives you his sweater. My, my, did you spend the night with the big bad muscled boy?" she asked with a wide grin.

Tris could only blush at her sly remarks, her mouth opened once again, but she couldn't find the words.

"Did you sleep on his bed?" she chirped.

"Chris!" Will scolded her, "will you please stop bothering her? She's a former Abnegation, don't forget. Look how you've embarrassed her." Tris couldn't help but think that Will was not helping at all; she was even more embarrassed.

"Alright! Alright!" Christina pouted while Uriah was barking loud laughs, "I just want to cheer you up a little, Tris. You're in pain and you're so down."

"I'm fine, Chris," Tris offered her a small smile, silently thanking Will for stopping Christina's rant. Slowly her cheeks regained a normal temperature.

Four chose this moment to stand up and instantly, all the transfer initiates and even some dauntless borns focused their attention on him.

"Transfers!" he barked. "We have something new to show you this morning. Follow me!"

"Be careful, okay?" Uriah frowned, holding out his fist to her as a parting gesture.

"I'll be okay," Tris smiled tiredly and lightly bumped her fist against his, mimicking the Dauntless greeting she had watched so many times at school before the Choosing Day. It felt great to finally try it, she admitted to herself.

"Don't worry, we'll protect her," Will squeezed her shoulder and they left Uriah.

The transfers all headed to the fear landscape room after their instructor. Four told them they had a free week to prepare and explained them the third stage of initiation. Then he left them free for the rest of the day.

.

"Tris! Tris!"

Tris woke up to Christina's urgent voice.

"Tris, oh my God."

She opened her eyes. At first Christina's face was a blur but when Tris could discern the tears and smudged mascara on her cheeks and the distress on her face, her stomach clenched in a panicked reaction. She sat up and pushed back the covers. "Chris, what's wrong?" she spoke in a voice hoarse from sleep. Her guts clenched uncomfortably in anticipation and fear.

.

* * *

**AN**: Do tell, Christina, enlighten us.


	4. Chapter 3

_I was stumbling, looking in the dark_

_With an empty heart_

_But you say you feel the same_

** .**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Tris gradually came back to reality with Christina's urgent shouts.

"Tris, oh my God," she choked on her sob and gripped Tris' shirt as soon as the latter was stirring.

At first Christina's face was a blur but then Tris could discern the tears and smudged mascara on her cheeks and the distress on her face. "Chris, what's wrong?"

But the dark-skinned girl could not find the words to speak; still clutching her friend's shirt in her hands, she fell heavily on her and Tris cradled her in her arms. "Christina, talk to me."

"It's Al," she wailed, "I don't know he's- they said- just. Just come with me please." She scrambled to her feet and tugged on Tris' arms.

"Wait let me put on my shoes."

The blond-haired girl tied her combat boots as quickly as she could and then she hurried to follow behind her friend. As they ran, Tris wondered about what could have happened with Al to put Christina in such a state. Asking her now wasn't a good idea; she seemed so shaken, Tris thought. If he'd just gotten himself in a fight, Christina wouldn't be crying. She wouldn't be crying either if Al had been eliminated from Initiation, right? The darkest side of Tris was telling herself that she didn't care whatever was happening to Al because she hated him. But another part of her was frightened; what if he was seriously injured? She tried to ignore this possibility.

Then Christina slowed down when they arrived at the Pit and she grasped Tris' arm.

"The Chasm," she whispered in a broken voice.

Tris felt her heart clench at these words. It could mean only one thing; that Al had fallen down the Chasm. That he was _dead_.

"No," Tris chuckled dryly, "this can't be true. It can't be true, right?"

"Tris, come," Christina urged her, lacing their fingers together. They neared the Chasm hand in hand and the closer they got to it, the more people they could see. When the Chasm was finally in sight, Tris stopped, forcing Christina to stay as far away from it as possible.

There were two men grunting, hoisting something seemingly heavy with thick ropes. His _body_. They pulled Al over the railing, dropping him to floor, as if he was just a sack of potatoes. One of his legs was lying in an unnatural angle. Broken. His body was a pale color, glistening and turning to purple from the cold water. His face held no expression; eyes wide open and frozen lips parted, it was void of life.

Tris felt like throwing up. All her limbs were numb. Al was dead.

Christina was still very close to her side, her sobs were making her body shake against her; she was gripping Tris' left arm, her face buried in the crook of her neck.

"Maybe it was an accident." A man spoke behind them.

"Don't be stupid, Dan. No one falls by accident down the Chasm," a woman snapped. "Besides, he was an initiate."

Tris looked at the body. A dauntless man closed Al's lids with the back of his hand. She forced herself to look away from the scene to prevent herself from throwing up. So he was dead. That's when she was hit with a strong and dark feeling. Guilt.

All of this was her fault. Al was a coward, he jumped, he ran away when things were too hard for him. Al was a coward. And she was nothing better than him. She should have accepted his apology. Instead of being selfless she threatened him while he seemed so unsteady. She was the cause of his suicide.

"Yeah it's just like last year. Or was it two years ago? Don't know."

"Like _every_ year, Dan."

Tris had to leave; all these people were talking about death like it was nothing. She stepped away from Christina, letting her fall to her knees still crying loudly and then she ran.

Maybe it was nothing; death. After all Al was gone so easily. One minute he was there and the next he was a stack of heavy limbs in the water.

:::::

In the end she had thrown up in the toilets of their dorm and with no one to neither hold her hair nor rub her back soothingly her she had begun to feel very messed up and so dirty. She was dirty inside and outside. Her selfishness had caused Al to kill himself; what would her parents say?

She sobbed and walked to the showers that were just a few meters away from the toilets and without even bothering to look around her to see if she was alone, she stripped out of her clothes and stood under the hot spray of water.

When she was finally calmer and clean, she dragged her limbs to the Tattoo parlor without thinking it over. She just needed an adult to tell her that everything was alright and that it wasn't her fault.

But when she got there she couldn't find it in her to talk.

Tori took a look at her face and quickly understood; the older woman didn't ask questions, she motioned for the young girl to follow her to the back of the shop and made her a warm cup of tea.

"Tea won't make me better," Tris murmured but finished her cup anyway in small sips.

"There's a funeral. In a few hours," Tori informed her.

Tris chuckled darkly. "Alright." And here she had thought that Tori could reassure her.

"You can stay here if you want. I have an appointment in five and then we can go to the funeral together."

Tris nodded and sat at Tori's desk to look at the drawings that all seemed gloomy and dark.

.

There was a noisy crowd gathered in the Pit, everyone was chattering. It didn't took long for Tris to find her friends, they were standing in the front of the crowd near the railing of the Chasm.

She bumped her fist with Uriah's, nodded to Will, Christina and a few other initiates in acknowledgment, not trusting her voice for the usual greetings.

"Look who's there," Molly's voice came to Tris's ears.

Tris turned and saw her smiling devilishly, Peter walking close behind. For once the Tank was the one to do the talking and not Peter. Tris watched as the Tank walked close to her. When Molly leaned to whisper something in her ear, Tris already had a clenched a fist at her side and the muscles of her arm were so tense it was beginning to ache.

"Guess what I read this morning, Stiff?" she whispered in Tris's ear. Tris scrunched up her nose in disgust when Molly's bad breath came to her nostrils.

"Molly, if you continue I won't be responsible for-" Tris tried to warn her as calmly as she could but the other girl ignored the warning and cut her.

"Well I read a very interesting article about your family of fucking stiffs. Now I do understand why you left your violent stiff parents."

Tris didn't wait for another word; she had warned Molly and that was already an extremely patient move, she thought. Her clenched fist darted with more strength than usual because of her anger and so quickly that Molly didn't even have a second to dodge it nor let out a scream. It crushed nastily on her cheek. Molly stumbled back and Tris took the opportunity to smash her feet in her stomach, earning a grunt from her opponent. Molly tried to keep her balance but she fell on her butt anyway. Tris ignored Christina and Will's urgent voices, she wasn't quite finished yet; she straddled the bigger girl and prepared herself to strike again, bringing her elbow backward. But before she could throw her fist, a strong warm hand grasped her elbow from behind. She instantly glared back to see who interfered with her fight and froze at the sight of Eric's grey orbs.

"That's enough, initiates." His deep voice came to her ears. Eric tugged at her elbow and the momentum made her body fully turn toward him. "I won't have two more initiates dying today," he hissed dangerously as he leaned his face close to hers. She felt her breath hitch and her cheeks heat up. She noticed it was the first time she was seeing him with stubble; and then she noticed how chapped his lips were.

Eric moved away from her and grabbed Molly by the collar of her shirt to hoist her up. He turned to give Tris a last warning look before marching toward the front of the crowd who silently parted to let him pass.

"We're not finished there," Tris hissed to Molly when she was sure that Eric was too far away to hear anything. Then she walked away from her, heading to the very back of the crowd.

.

"Alright listen up everybody!"

The chattering stopped and he continued, "Thank you. As you know, we're here because Albert, an initiate, jumped down the Chasm last night. We don't know why he did it and it would be easy to cry over his death. But here in Dauntless we don't do easy."

His eyes swept over the crowd and caught Tris's; there she was, with her yellowish jaw that looked painful. She was still wearing his sweater, he noticed.

"The truth is-" His eyebrows frowned a little as he tried not to look at her. "The truth is that Albert is now exploring a place unknown to us. He jumped into these dark waters to go there," he recited his text.

"Who among us would be brave enough to take this path and find out what there is in this darkness?" he barked and Tris flinched. "Albert was not yet a full Dauntless member but we can be sure that he was one of the bravest!" he yelled.

Cheers took over the crowd. Eric noticed the blond petite figure of Tris turning around and walking away. He didn't know why and it infuriated him. How dare she walk away in the middle of his speech? People's attention was supposed to be on him. He knew she probably found the speech stupid. He himself found it insulting and outrageous but he had to do it. He cursed inwardly for even caring about it and yelled over the shouts of the crowds, "To Albert the brave!"

He jumped down the crate and picked a bottle from someone. He took two gulps and marched through the crowd heading to the darkest corridors of the compound.

:::::

After wandering through the compound for several minutes, Tris had bumped into Four. Their conversation had infuriated her more than she already was. It was because of Eric's nonsense that she decided to spend some time alone and sulk about her useless person and now Four kept telling her to be careful. And how to be careful? With the record times she was doing under the sims it wouldn't take long for the leaders, for that damn Eric, to find out and kill her. So Tris cursed out loud and walked away from Four when he didn't give her any answer.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

_Away from you_, she thought bitterly but decided better on, "I want to be alone right now. I need to think about all of this." And with that she continued her way through the dark corridors.

After some minutes she stood in a particularly dark one and wondered if it was the same where she sat days ago when Uriah, Marlene and Lynn had found her. So she sat down, gathered her legs to her chest and dropped her head on her knees with a heavy shigh.

"Who's there?" someone barked causing Tris to jump and almost squeak.

"Eric?" she called in disbelief; she had recognized his voice, but what would Eric be doing in here when the whole compound was in the Pit getting drunk and _celebrating a death_.

Suddenly there was some light and she saw him at her right; he was crouched against the wall holding a lighter.

"It's you, Stiff."

Tris didn't answer anything; she was still angry at him. She shot him a dark look and chewed on her cheek before turning her head to face the wall in front of her.

Eric shut the light off and asked gloomily, "What's with the look initiate? Show me respect."

Tris refused to answer; she knew if she did she would be yelling at a Dauntless leader so she shut her mouth and moved to stand up and leave.

"I know what you think," his deep voice rambled.

That made her stop in motion; she decided she would listen to him and waited for more.

"I have to repeat the exact same speech each time somebody jumps down the Chasm," and then he mumbled, "I hate it too."

"What?" Tris was amazed at Eric's sudden confession. She stared at his direction with wide eyes, even though she could barely discern his shape in the dark.

"Yeah, Stiff, you heard right," he said in an obvious tone and gulped down the rest of his bottle.

"Oh," Tris realized he must have drunk too much to open up to her like this.

There was a silence. Maybe she could try to talk to him; she guessed that he had to be pretty drunk to even be talking civilly with her. Tris saw a glimpse of kindness in him last time and now she wanted to know more about him, she wanted to experience this new side of him again. Oh she was still afraid of him, hell yes she was. But she was feeling Dauntless at the moment.

She scooted a little closer to him and cleared her throat.

"I didn't like it either. So why do you say it if you hate it?" she asked warily.

There was a noise of breaking glass and Tris jumped. Oh yes, she was still afraid of Eric, that had just confirmed it. He had thrown his bottle to the wall they were facing.

"Don't talk to me like that!" he shouted "I am a Dauntless leader!"

A tensed silence descended and she fumbled with the tips of her fingers.

"Okay, well, um- I'm gonna go," she mumbled.

When she began to walk away, Eric grabbed her wrist making her fall down against him. She gasped at the pain the impact had on her bruises. Eric wouldn't let go of her wrist and grabbed her other one.

"Don't go," he croaked out. His deep voice sounded miserable. It pained her to hear it so sad. Yes, she had finally admitted to herself that she loved his voice.

She had some trouble to understand what was going on; was she really in Eric arms?

"Eric you're drunk," she tried to reason him and pushed on his chest to get some distance between them. She could feel his strong arms around her and was sprawled against him. Behind the alcohol odor she could still smell his masculine scent; it wasn't cologne or anything too strong, it was simply his natural scent, the same she smelled on his sweater. And she shamefully found herself wishing there was no alcohol so that she could inhale him.

"Don't go," his chest rumbled when he spoke.

"Eric you're hurting me. M-my bruises." At that, Eric let go of her but as she was still pushing against his chest, she ended up falling backwards. Tris was between his legs facing him, her hands steadying herself behind her back.

"I forgot," he sounded genuinely sorry, "Stay." His silver eyes sought for hers in the dark hallway.

"You're so going to hate me for that when you'll be yourself again," she sighed.

"I am not myself now?" he frowned seriously.

"No you're not. Alright, I'll stay." She settled herself beside him. His long hair tickled her bare shoulder but she didn't scoot away, she liked the proximity and the warmth she could feel from his body. Even though he was still extremely scary, it excited her to be faced with the stranger that was Eric. A few days ago she thought that she knew him, that he was a sadistic man with no emotion except maybe joy when he tortured other people. She was wrong.

"But you can't be an ass about it later," she added.

"The Stiff just said the word 'ass'," he chuckled, "Why would I be an ass particularly about this? I'm always an ass."

There was I little silence, she was thinking about an answer.

"I am nothing to you," she shrugged. "I am just u-um _Stiff_ and you're a leader. You don't usually talk to me if not to mock me or punish me. Right now you're unusually talking to me about some stuff and you're actually being… kind. If later you remember any of this you're going to be mad at me because that's who you are. You don't talk to me. So this is strange but that's because you're drunk."

"You think I'm drunk? I'm not."

"Yeah I don't know much about drinking but I bet drunk people say they are not drunk," she said with a smile and she even heard him chuckle.

"I'm tipsy. But not drunk."

For long minutes nothing could be heard except for their slow breathing.

"I'm not going to be mad," Eric broke the silence.

Tris had a strange sensation in her stomach and she knew it wasn't from her bruise. She turned her head to look at him; now that she had been here for a while, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and she could discern his profile better. He was handsome.

She chewed her lower lip and in a bold intention, she picked a strand of his long black hair that had been tickling her shoulder since she had scooted closer to him; she played with it between her fingers and asked herself how a man can have such smooth hair. She smiled and wanted to ask him but stopped herself; it was already a miracle that he didn't react violently with her _playing_ with his hair.

They stayed in this comfortable silence for a long time; with Tris resisting the odd urge to settle her head on his shoulder. They both knew a strange link was created by this moment between them.

"Eric I should really go," she whispered when her backside was beginning to hurt and she was feeling restless from not moving.

When he answered nothing, Tris let go of his hair using the opportunity to graze her fingers against the bare skin of his arm. She stood up and just before going she said "You know it's great when you're not acting like an evil jerk," she paused, she didn't know if she could say it. "I don't think you're a bad person," she guessed he was drunk anyway and would probably not remember any of what happened.

"Bye Eric."

She left with a smile on her lips and lightness in her footsteps.

Only later would she realize that she had spent an awkwardly great time with the person the most susceptible to kill her.

:::::

She found Christina and Will by the Pit. The crowd wasn't there anymore, but there were some Dauntless members crashed on the ground and against the walls with loads of bottles. She realized that these people had to love Eric's speeches because they had an excuse to drink afterwards.

"Guys I want a new tattoo," Christina said sadly, "I think we should remember this day and a tattoo will do the work."

"That's actually a good idea. I want one too," Will told her. "Are you coming?" he turned to Tris.

She actually wanted an ink of the Abnegation symbol on her arm since a few days. It was to remind her that she had to stay selfless when needed. Maybe it was time to do it. She nodded and they headed to the tattoo parlor.

.

When Tori finished the symbol on Tris's right shoulder, they went back to the Pit. Tris could still feel the needle stinging her shoulder; but it wasn't a bad sensation, she was content with the symbol of her former faction finally tattooed on her body.

Her gaze went up the Pit and she caught a glimpse of a figure marching up the stairs. It was Four. And he was pointedly looking down at her. She didn't want to see him. The guy infuriated her. Four was probably one of the reasons that Eric became the sadistic jerk that he was. He hated Eric and it annoyed her that people hated him. He could be so much better without them around. She realized it was a very selfish thought but she didn't see a reason to follow Four anyway.

"Hey, can we go back to the dorms?" she asked her friends.

.

* * *

**AN: **If it's past 1 AM and you've got school or work tomorrow you should probably go to sleep.

Lyrics at the beginning were from _Home_ (One Direction)


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Why are you looking at Eric?" Christina broke Tris's reverie.

It was lunchtime and while Will had lingered to ask a few questions to Four –about God knows what- the girls had decided to head to the Cafeteria without their friend.

"Uh? I was. I mean, I was not." She averted her gaze to her plate.

"Tris," the dark-skinned girl rolled her eyes, "You just avoided my eyes. You know you can't lie to me."

"What are you guys talking about?" Uriah happily asked the girls as he sat down very close beside Tris. That boy was too friendly and touchy for Tris' comfort but she tried to shut down her Abnegation habits each time he was close; because it was heartwarming to know that a friend liked you enough to settle an arm over your shoulder.

"I was just saying to Tris that she hadn't stopped staring at Eric since we got here," Christina answered and Tris was now convinced that the girl's main goal was to embarrass her. Both of her friends looked at the blond girl expectantly.

"It's just that he seems lonely," she shrugged, trying to act as if she wasn't aware that her cheeks were burning red.

Now the three of them stared at Eric who was swallowing down his food oblivious to them.

"Lonely?" Christina snickered, "there's a reason why he's sitting alone."

"I know, I know. But I can't help myself from thinking that people don't give him enough credit. They avoid him like he's a sickness. And well, he was kind enough to save me."

"_Anyone_ would be kind enough to save a small girl from three guys."

"Hey!" Tris snapped angrily at Christina.

"And I'm sorry but he had been a dick with everyone since the beginning of initiation and _everyone _in Dauntless hates him, not just the initiates."

"But he took care of me when he could have just let me wander back to the dorms."

"Well," Uriah began, an expression of deep thinking on his face. "Now that you mention it, it must be pretty boring to sit alone. I should sit with him. No, actually we should _all_ go there."

"Have you not heard what I just said?" Christina exclaimed.

Tris smiled, "He's going to kill us if we go near him." She liked the idea of her group of friend eating their lunch with the big bad Eric but it was also a really embarrassing idea. Christina would also never agree to this.

"I don't want to be near him. Tris, he may have saved your ass but he also almost threw mine over the Chasm," Christina pointed.

"Maybe he just wanted to prove a point and used harsh method, knowing you were strong enough to resist. Maybe you should have trusted yourself," Tris countered.

Uriah suddenly stood up. "Uriah? You didn't eat anything."

"I'm going to eat with him," he smirked.

"What?"

Tris and Christina watched with anticipation as he strolled confidently to Eric's table. He took a seat on the bench in front of Eric and started to talk lively with arm gestures that would look exaggerated on anyone else.

"Is he trying to die?" Christina asked dumbfounded.

Tris saw Eric's eyes slowly lifting up from his food to Uriah. The look he gave him was so intense and threatening, that even from afar, Tris shuddered along with Christina. Yet Uriah didn't back down, instead he started to fill his plate.

They watched as Eric finally spoke words to Uriah; words that looked like a warning. The boy simply took a huge bite of his burger and shrugged his shoulders. That was apparently hilarious to Christina. "Uriah is legend! Oh my God I love him."

Tris smiled, "Yeah, he's a great guy." She felt better now that Eric had some company; and an entertaining one at that. He had seemingly given up on making Uriah leave and had returned to his food.

Tris looked at the people in the cafeteria; most of them were eyeing curiously the odd pair that made Eric and Uriah together. She chuckled and leaned her chin on her hand.

"Am I going crazy or is Uriah eating with Eric?" Will asked as he took a seat beside Christina.

"You're not crazy," she laughed. "I love this guy."

"Well that's a change," Will said while staring at Eric's table "I didn't think I'd ever see Eric eating with anyone. Did Uriah get punished?"

"No," Tris sighed, "Uriah just thought that Eric was lonely."

"You mean, _you_ thought."

Tris ignored her comments. "Let's just hurry up with lunch; we can't be late for our first day in the fear landscape."

:::::

All initiates were walking up the stairs to join Four and Lauren. Both instructors were waiting for them in front of the Fear Landscape room; a room that was still foreign to every one of the initiates. Not even the Dauntless-borns knew exactly what they would face.

"Hurry up, initiates!" Lauren barked just as Tris and her friends arrived at the back of the small crowd of initiates. The two instructors were standing on either side of the open door of the room; they began to introduce the purpose of fear landscapes and the serum that they will have to take.

Tris was completely focused on their explanation when she felt his body warmth behind her. She glanced behind her and indeed his menacing frame was a few inches from her. He was looming over her smaller frame.

"Eric," Four nodded his head in acknowledgment, "I thought you said you couldn't come."

"Don't be so thrilled I'm here you'll make me blush," Eric retorted in a sarcastic tone while walking around Tris, his arm brushing against hers, to make his way to the front, next to Four, carful to keep a few feet between them.

"I wanted to keep an eye on my favorite initiates." He smirked at Drew and Peter; both of them were suffering from the remnants of their bruises. Drew visibly shuddered under his gaze. The young leader leant against the wall and his eyes swept over the group.

Tris felt insecure because of the conversation she had had with the drunken Eric. She suspected she had crossed the line when she had talked openly with him. She prayed that he didn't remember any of what had happened. Just then, his eyes stopped on her. She faintly remembered that Four was still talking and probably stating important information about the fear landscape room. Somehow she couldn't focus on anything but Eric's eyes. He nodded. It was almost imperceptible but it was there. She bit her lip and her eyes flew away; to ignore her reddened cheeks, she tried to concentrate on Lauren who was now speaking. Eric did remember their conversation, then.

"So like he said, each one of you will go into my fear landscape. But because of a matter of time you'll only face one of my fears," Lauren explained. "But don't worry, it will be plenty enough for a first time. Alright, we'll start with one _my_ initiates," she smiled playfully at Four, "Lynn, come here you're first. Show them transfers who are the bosses."

Tris watched Lynn getting a shot of the serum and being pushed into the white room. Suddenly the lights inside it went out and they could barely see Lynn. But they could clearly hear her shouting insults at what she was calling 'filthy little crawling creatures' and everyone laughed.

Tris frowned as she felt Eric staring at her; or more like she guessed he was. She turned her head toward him. Indeed, he was intently staring at her; and her eyes were soon enough trapped in his gaze. She couldn't look away, she didn't want to look away. So they stared at each other, daring the other to look away first.

"Tris, you're next!" Lauren called and Tris broke the eye contact with Eric. She had been so caught up in the staring contest that she didn't even pay attention when Lynn came out of the room. She cursed inwardly, she had no idea what was waiting for her in this strange room; she hadn't listened to Four's instruction either, and that was all because of Eric. Tris cast him an annoyed look and he amusedly raised an eyebrow in response.

"Hurry up girl," Lauren called her again. When Tris came to her, she shot her the serum and pushed her into the room. "So you have: kidnapping by men without faces, good luck with that," she shuddered, "but it should be okay with you as it is a fear of my."

"Yeah, good luck!" Christina called to her in a concerned voice.

The door was slammed close.

Tris gulped and waited as the lights turned off in the room. Suddenly, there was grass under her feet and someone harshly grabbed her arms from behind. She gasped, fear taking over any coherent thought. Other hands clutched her waist, her thighs and another clamped on her mouth so hard that she could taste her own blood in her mouth. She struggled with all her will as she screamed between the fingers of the man's large hand. They pushed and they shoved. She screamed so much that her throat ached. But she couldn't do anything else. She was powerless against these men. Then there was the Chasm in front of her. It was happening all over again. They came back. The men that haunted her dreams. They wanted her dead. Dead as Al.

They pushed. This time Eric did not come for her. She sobbed. They pushed harder and completely let go of her. She fell into the darkness and down into the loud noises of the Chasm. It was so dark, so heavy, she brought her knees close to her chest as she cried and she dug her fingers into her scalp and clutched at her hair.

"No, no," she kept repeating like a mantra.

"Stop it," a man's voice said and the lights came back. She was laying on the cold stone floor of the Fear Landscape room. The voice was Four's. He grabbed her forearms and hoisted her up so harshly that she couldn't hold back a whimper.

"What the hell was that, Stiff?"

This fear of kidnapping felt just like that night when the three boys tried to kill her, and reminded her of all the nightmares she was having every night. Lauren's fear became hers. Tris had failed, in front of everyone, in front of Eric. She looked up and her eyes searched for him through her tears. There he was, standing behind everyone, staring and frowning in concentration as if he was trying to solve an equation. Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment and she looked down; she had made a fool of herself.

"You weren't even trying," Four snarled.

"I-I couldn't," she stammered looking up at her instructor with wide eyes. She was taken aback; Four had never been this harsh and heartless with her.

"Get a grip of yourself! You are fucking pathetic."

These words didn't go well with Tris. Something in her eyes snapped and she jerked her arms out of Four's grip. She slaps him. So hard that the noise echoes in the small room.

"Fuck off," she said slowly, her voice lower than usual. Strangely the height difference didn't matter anymore. Everyone could feel the tension between them and were awed by Tris's behavior. Even four didn't reply or scolded her like an instructor ought to when an initiated was disrespectful.

Tris glared one more time and then she walked away from him, from everyone, out of the room, careful to avoid Eric's gaze. She refused to see the mock in his eyes.

She needed to get out of here.

.

* * *

**AN: **Short chapter I know. Next one is longer!

Christina is really annoying, right? Fortunately for Tris, Uriah is there.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Initiates were still going through the fear landscape room when Eric lost his patience and walked away. He had a meeting with Jeanine in an hour and now was probably the best time to leave; meaning when Zeke's little brother was too caught in watching and commenting the performances of other initiates. Eric grunted in annoyance as he recalled how clingy he had been during _and after_ lunch.

The boy had just casually sat down in front of him and Eric couldn't believe it. He had some guts to dare sitting there; no one sat with Eric, except for Max and the other leaders when they had to prepare government meetings. He usually sat alone and that suited him perfectly; it was a reminder to everyone that he was to be feared. And the worst was that Eric had _almost_ smiled when Zeke's brother insisted on staying. He couldn't allow himself to smile.

"Nope. I began eating so there's no way I am going away now," the younger boy had said with an innocent smile.

And after lunch he had stubbornly followed Eric to the Pit and even casually chatted. Well, if it could be called a chat; Eric hadn't uttered a word; he had been imagining different methods of torture to shut his mouth.

So Eric went outside and hopped on the train, towards Erudite.

As he leaned against the doorframe of the car, one hand gripping the handle, Eric recalled how panicked Tris had been during her first go in the fear landscape. Well, in Lauren's fear landscape. And that was what made it odd; it wasn't her fear, still she panicked and screamed and thrashed. Fear of being kidnapped by men with no face. That was what she got, if he remembered correctly. It had probably reminded her of the night she was attacked and dragged to the Chasm. Was she still scared of Peter? Al was already dead and Drew too frightened of Eric to try anything reckless again. Maybe he should do something about Peter. Or not. It was not his business after all.

:::::

Tris entered the main building of Erudite. She was relieved that her bruises had healed enough for her to take the train without too much struggle. She entered a big hall, where stood a desk in front of her. Apart from that, the hall was empty; the brightness of it could nearly hurt someone's eyes because of the glass wall and the white marble floor. Behind the desk was an old lady looking seemingly interested in whatever was on her computer. Tris hugged her sweater against herself; well, _Eric's sweater_. She had put it on without a second thought when she had stopped by the dorms before fleeing the compound.

She walked to the old lady. She looked like a slug dressed in a blue cardigan. The v-neck made her neck look longer, in continuity with her chin and more slug-like because of her rippled skin.

"Excuse me," Tris called her, trying to ignore her nasty thoughts about the secretary's appearance. The woman didn't react. Tris cleared her throat so loudly that there was no way the lady didn't hear it. She was still ignoring Tris. The girl took a deep calming breath and tried to sound polite while raising her voice. "Excuse me." The old lady _finally_ looked up. "Hello. I'm looking for an initiate. Caleb Prior?"

"I am sincerely sorry, young lady. I am not allowed to share this information with you," she answered in a monotonous voice; then she looked back down at her computer, already forgetting Tris's presence.

"What? Why can't you tell me?" The secretary ignored her. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Tris waited for a few seconds, her eyes darting form her impassive face to the sloppy skin of her neck and then she slammed her closed fist on the desk, the noise echoing in the wide hall.

This time the old lady looked up, startled but still looking rather annoyed by Tris's outburst.

"I said; tell me where Caleb Prior is," she threatened her, pausing between each word. But just then, she heard footsteps and caught sight of a group of young men walking out of double doors at her right. Luckily Caleb was among them. She smiled in relief. It was so good to see him.

"Old slug," she spat in disgust at the old woman behind the desk, before calling for her brother. "Caleb!"

"What on earth are you doing here?" Those were the first words he told her.

Tris ran to him and pulled him into a fierce embrace. She had to admit, she was disappointed by his reaction. She'd wanted her brother to march to her and wrap his arms around her. She realized it was mostly why she came there, she wanted a comforting presence, she wanted someone familiar to hug her and tell her genuine reassuring words. Instead of that, Caleb simply studied her with an air of superiority. He wasn't returning the hug. He stayed still.

So she drew back. "Caleb? What's wrong?" She noticed his eyes darting around them, as if he was afraid his snotty looking fellow initiates were watching. But they had simply left without a second glance at Caleb. "You're wearing glasses? But you can see perfectly well! Caleb this-"

"Beatrice!" he hissed, "let's go outside, alright?" Caleb then strode to the glass doors and headed to the park that surrounded the huge building, her sister following close behind him.

He spoke again when they reached a deserted spot behind a statue. "Are you insane? Why did you come here, Beatrice?"

Her sister flinched at his harsh words; it really wasn't what she was expecting, she felt a pang of pain in her chest. "I missed home; you're the closest thing I have to home." He thinned his lips at her answer. "Yeah, it's good to see you too, _brother,_" she added feeling tears well up in her eyes. No. She was certainly not going to cry in front of him behaving like that.

"Beatrice, I'm sorry ok?" he said her after seeing the hurt in her features. "It's just that- well, I mean I'm thrilled to see you," he stammered, awkwardly settling a hand on her shoulder. "But you have to understand there are rules. You shouldn't be here." Caleb explained.

"I don't care about the fucking rules," she shot back.

"Hey. Language, Beatrice!" he took the tone he used back then to scold her. "Dauntless changed you. And if I were you, I wouldn't ignore the rules, especially being in Dauntless."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tris snapped defensively. Dauntless was her choice and she wouldn't allow him to belittle them. She still found some kind of freedom there.

"Now don't get angry, I just don't want them to hurt you." Both of them softened after that.

"Something is going on Beatrice. Something big; I don't know what. Jeanine Matthews is planning something."

"What? How do you know?"

"Jeanine's doing speeches about corruption in Abnegation almost every day. And there are Dauntless leaders around here," Caleb whispered as if someone was trying to listen to their conversation.

"Caleb. Tell me you don't believe what Jeanine says." Tris thought back about the article Peter and Molly had read to her and she well knew that it came from Erudite. When her brother didn't answer, a painful look passed on her face, but quickly faded to be replaced by anger. "Caleb!" she shouted.

"Jeanine has well-built arguments," he stated proudly, "I do believe that she has a point about Abnegation being the leaders. I've read an-"

"It's our parents she's talking about!" Tris cut him harshly. "Mom and Dad! Please tell me you're not on Jeanine –fucking- Matthews's side! She is just a freaking b-"

"Beatrice," Caleb warned her in a low voice, "I believe that Ms. Matthews is an admirable scientist and you obviously don't know what you are talking about. I don't know why you came here but I think you should leave." He was once again sporting his new air of superiority.

Tris huffed, "Right." The tears were back in her eyes, menacing to burst out. "Right," she repeated but this time her voice cracked, "_Faction before blood_, I guess. You're perfectly right about everything, _brother_." Tears rolled down her cheeks and she quickly swept them away with the back of her hand.

She calmly turned away from him, fighting the urge to run away and cry her heart out. But she stopped after a three steps. "By the way, if you still give a damn about her, Mom would like you to do some digging about the simulation serums." And without waiting for an answer she walked away towards the main entrance of the Erudite compound. She never looked back and because of that, she missed the hurt and the regret apparent on her older brother's face.

.

No more than 50 meters ahead, Tris ran into two Erudite men. They stood with their arms crossed, probably trying to look strong and fierce though they were very lean and had no more muscle mass than her. And she wasn't very muscled.

"Excuse me," said the one on the right. "We need you to follow us."

Tris was feeling miserable because of Caleb; yet the two men blocking her path and ordering her to follow them without a motive managed to switch her emotions to fear. That was it. They knew she was Divergent. They wanted to kill her. They were the one who sent Eric in Dauntless. Jeanine! Caleb said she was planning something. Was she the one controlling Eric? It had to be her; the familiar voice!

The man on the left took a step toward her and without thinking she grabbed his arm and shoved him to the side. As he lost his balance she kicked him hard in the back, causing him to stumble to the ground in a grunt. The gravel scraped his palms in his fall and he hissed. The man had been easily dominated by Tris; she sneered at his weakness and took a fighting stance, prepared to dodge any punch or kick from the other man. She was ready when he threw a poorly aimed punch so she swiftly stepped to the right and managed to avoid it. She thought quickly and realized it was a perfect opportunity to send her elbow to his side. So she lifted her left arm. "Stiff!" someone yelled. Tris instantly recognized the deep voice. She froze. Her stomach clenched in anticipation. She turned to where the shout came from and searched with eyes still wide from the adrenaline of the short fight.

Eric was there, coming out of the main building of the compound, angrily marching to her. Alright he seemed furious, but she couldn't deny it was a relief to see someone familiar. Someone from her new home.

"Stop this!" he ordered her. She dropped her ready-to-strike elbow but not before looking back at the man, checking if he was charging at her. He was simply staring at Eric and slightly bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Eric was now towering close to her. Tris opened her mouth but no sound came out of it. She knew she had no valid excuse to him. "What are you doing here? Answer me!" He shouted so loudly that it made her flinch.

'_Good'_, that's what he should have thought. Eric loved when people feared him. It proved him they acknowledged his superiority. So _why_ couldn't he think it was _good_ if the Stiff was looking up at him with such fearful eyes? _Why _did he feel the need to calm down to wipe away that look from her eyes?

"Stiff," he tried again, with a calmer voice though it was still strained. "Why were you attacking those two Erudite men?"

Tris cleared her throat and finally found the words, relieved he wasn't in that state of fury anymore. "I-I don't know. I thought they were attacking me. I got carried away," she shrugged. To her surprise, she caught the corner of his lips twitch, but it was only for a second.

How very Dauntless of her, he thought amusingly. His little Stiff was becoming a real Dauntless. "You're not allowed on Erudite's ground. Who let you out of our compound?"

"Er- um no one did," she looked at her feet.

That was it. That was when Eric was supposed to burst in anger and announce her she was cut from initiation for breaking the rules. She had just begun to associate Dauntless as her new home and now because she had been stupid enough to act from her feelings, she was going to lose her home.

"Come on Stiff, let's get back," he sighed and began to walk away.

Her eyes widened and she quickly followed after him, not even bothering to look back at the two Erudite men.

.

* * *

**AN:** Alright I know, this chapter is not very long. But! I promise the next one is longer and some _interesting_ things happen with our dear big bad boy.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Halfway to the train tracks, Eric groaned in frustration.

"Why the hell would you go there?" he was angry but at least not shouting. Tris could actually see how hard he was trying to stay calm. Once again she was witnessing a bit of an unseen side of Eric. The fact that the terrifying man was actually trying to control himself shocked her but produced a warm feeling in her chest.

"I'm sorry, Eric," she apologized before explaining, "I just went to see my brother."

"W-What?" he glared at her, "never heard of the phrase 'Faction before blood'?"

"I know, I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"That was an act of treason! Just be glad I was the one to find you and not someone else like Max!"

"Then why are _you_ in Erudite?" Tris shot back but immediately regretted when she saw the dark look Eric cast her.

"Careful. I happen to be a leader. You don't question what I do, Stiff," he said in a menacing low voice. Then he huffed and balled his hands into fists. He didn't want to talk, afraid he might yell at her again.

When they reached the tracks and waited for the next train, Tris broke the silence.

"I just wanted some comfort," she muttered. "I stupidly hoped Caleb could give me some…"

"What's wrong, Stiff?" he asked. The memory of Tris slapping Four was still fresh in his mind. "Is it because of Four? Just why did you hit him?" He gauged her reaction, he didn't want to be too harsh on her. Surprisingly there was some concern on his face. But then again, she came to realize that she didn't know Eric at all, so anything that she learned about him shouldn't be a surprise.

She wondered if she could tell him she was divergent, and she was afraid to die, and she worried about her parents, and she was still wary of Peter. She didn't know why she wanted to talk him. It was a stupid thought. They barely knew each other. Maybe they could be friend. Or not; as far as she knew, the yound leader was supposed to be her number one enemy, supposed to find out about her divergence and kill her. She couldn't risk it. But there _was_ some kind of weird _link_ between them; something that she had felt since they had talked in the dark corridor and he'd let her touch his hair.

Would he shoot her if he ever got the opportunity?

"Tris?" She felt her heart jump in her chest, she snapped her eyes to him. It was the first time he'd called her by her name. She was seeing a completely odd Eric; he looked slightly embarrassed by his initiative to call her that. Her jaw dropped; Eric, _the_ Eric was embarrassed. Did the simulation serum mess with her head?

But his face instantly returned to the stoic appearance.

"You know, next time you decide to do something utterly stupid that could be considered as treason, come to the training room. Throwing a few punches or running until exhaustion usually works."

She smiled gently, trying not to be shocked anymore by anything that Eric let her see of him. "I think I could use the training room right now," she muttered.

"I was just heading there too, Stiff." She didn't miss it when the corner of his mouth lifted for a moment.

:::::

The train came and Eric began to jog along it. Tris quickly followed, struggling to keep his pace. He jumped gracefully, easily grabbed a hold of the handle and landed at the ledge of the car. But instead of getting inside, he turned his body toward a running Tris. Their eyes met and he stretched his free arm to reach her. Eric managed to grab her wrist, pulled her forward, and before she could stumble and fall, he slid his arm around her waist to lift her. Tris's body was flush against his when he led them inside the car.

She couldn't think of anything but his toned chest against hers, his strong arm around her waist, his masculine scent and she felt something stir inside her guts. She could clearly admire his neck tattoos that disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt. She found herself wanting to see again the entire art that covered his shoulders and collarbone under his shirt. Her head barely reached his chin. His black hair flowed in the wind caused by the speeding train. She had the urge to admire his eyes, but he released her and she had to step away.

Tris cleared her throat. "Could have done it without you."

"If you say so." Eric snickered. He decided to stand at the opening of the car for the ride back. Tris settled against the wall facing the opening.

For a few minutes, Eric simply stared at the landscape arms crossed while Tris was admiring his figure and the shape of his muscled back. "Why did you want to see your brother?" Eric broke the silence.

Tris waited before answering. She clenched the ends of the sleeves of the huge sweater and crossed her arms over her chest. She cursed inwardly; she was _again_ thinking about telling him. She just had the feeling that Eric was a good person and that he would listen and understand. But that was absurd.

"I told you, wanted some comfort." She settled on this answer.

"Yeah but you didn't explain why." He glanced at her above his shoulder.

"I'm fine. Why do you even care?" she hoped her voice sounded steady.

"I don't." Eric plopped down and they didn't exchange a word for the rest of the ride.

.

When they finally arrived at Dauntless, Eric let Tris jump from the train on her own and she was glad that she managed not to fall when she landed; or else it would have been really embarrassing.

"So?" he raised his voice, "Training room, Stiff?" Tris smiled awkwardly and nodded. They silently headed there, and Tris was relieved to find it empty. She wouldn't want to be watched by people; Eric's company was enough to make her nervous.

.

Eric ignored her for the first minutes and began to run laps around the area. But when he dared a glance at her he frowned at how weak and not calculated her punches were. He jogged to her and spoke up, "Didn't Four taught you initiates how to punch?"

Tris jumped a little; she didn't notice him coming. "He did," she glared at him. Was he insinuating her attacks were that bad?

"This isn't about just throwing your fist."

"But I am throwing my fists." She stared at him disbelievingly.

"No, you're giving somebody a punch to defend yourself, it is a calculated move." He paused, "show me again how you do."

"Where? Against the bag?"

"Just do it in the air."

Tris willed herself not to blush, because _that_ was an embarrassing situation. Eric was probably going to make fun of her technique. But they were alone; it was not that humiliating. She clenched her fist at her side and then shot it in front of her. As soon as her arm was outstretched, Eric grabbed it to still her arm. He studied it for a second and then stepped in front of her to take her fist in his hands.

"Your thumb has to be outside. Four must have shown you," he grumbled as he opened her smaller hand and positioned her thumb before squeezing her fist in his own hand. "See, it's more stable now. Now you have to understand that it's all about rotation when giving a punch."

He moved around to stand at her left. "Pay attention to the movement. See, thumb out." He positioned his right fist at his side, elbow flexed. "When you start the movement, your thumb is toward the ceiling," his arm darted forward, "and when you finish it's toward the floor." He did the movement again and then gestured for her to do the same. His movements were strong and Tris pitied anyone who had been hit by Eric before.

"Good," he said as he stilled her stretched arm, "and you have to make sure your arm isn't a straight line but at a slight angle. Your muscles need to be clenched," he said as he squeezed the muscles of her forearms, oblivious to the blush tainting her cheeks.

"Do it again. No, a punch is powerful, contract your muscles. Lock it. Again. Careful, your torso. Good. Again. Good. This will avoid any injury or tearing with your joints."

When he was satisfied he made her do the same exercise with her left arm. They were so absorbed in the exercise that they didn't notice their proximity and Tris had even stopped blushing, too concentrated and determined to make him proud.

"Remember I said it's all about rotation?" she nodded between pants. "If you want to give it more power, you can rotate your torso, using your other arm for the momentum." He demonstrated several times and soon enough, she was doing it quite well, he judged.

"Really good," he praised her. This time he did notice her flushing at his compliment. "I'll let you try alone on the bag now."

He understood that she would need some time alone, even if she wasn't technically alone. But it would easier for her to punch her guts out without him watching. He began to run around the huge room again. However at the moment of each lap when he was behind her, he would watch her and analyze her technique. Her first punches where weak, but the more she hit the bag, the more powerful they became. Sure, she did several breaks; her muscles were not strong enough.

When drops of sweat began to run down his back, he removed his shirt, still jogging, and used it to wipe away the sweat on his brow and neck.

Several minutes later, Eric decided that she had been punching for long enough; she was so tired that each punch was accompanied by a whimper of pain. So he stopped in his tracks and jogged to her. She didn't hear him coming, so when he put a hand on her shoulder, she screamed, and in one motion swiftly turned and threw her fist to him. The speed of it didn't bother Eric at all; he smashed her forearm with his palm, deviating her hit. She stumbled into him. But he had to admit, this attack was made in a perfect rotation, just like he taught her.

One of her hand was gripping his bicep and she was using him to support her body weight while her chest heaved. Their eyes met; his amused, while hers were wide and searching.

When she was steady again, her gaze dropped to his bare chest and then to his abdomen. Eric noticed, and smirked when she blushed and her lips parted. But when she dared to roam her eyes lower, Eric couldn't help but break the silence.

"Hey Stiff, should I also remove my pants?"

At that, he laughed and watched in amusement her cheeks turning even redder than before, if that was possible.

"Come on," he dropped her fist and motioned her to follow him to the mats.

"Feeling any better, Stiff?"

"I guess so," she muttered

"You don't sound convinced as I expected. So I'll help you."

He stood on a mat and waited for her to position herself in front of him.

"Hit me," he told her when she seemed ready.

"What?"

"I said. Hit. Me." He slowly repeated in his deep voice.

"But-"

"You can use every part of your body. No restrictions. Show me what you've learned. Fight me."

He took a fighting stance to encourage her and waited for her to do the same. He noticed how wary of him she was, so he nodded at her as if to give her the permission to hit him.

She weakly attempted to punch his stomach but he stepped away. She moved forward and sent him her elbow with more force this time. Eric dodged it with his forearm. She stepped back and exhaled sharply through her nose in frustration.

"Is that all you can do?"

They circled each other for a few seconds and then she came back at him, threw him punches after punches as if he was a bag. But none of them reached their goal; he avoided or blocked each one. When she realized it wouldn't work on him, she tried to alternate her uppercuts with kicks, and sent her elbows and knees whenever he was in reach. They continued like this for long minutes. Eric could see her weakening, she was losing speed and apparently her muscles ached because she either whimpered or groaned at each movement.

It was when she screamed throwing him a punch that Eric decided it would be her final one. Instead of simply avoiding it like he kept doing, he grabbed her wrist, swept his foot behind her ankle and pinned her to the mat as gently as he could, with a hand steadying her between her shoulder blades. Then he lifted his right fist and sent it back down in an amazing speed. She screamed and clenched her eyes shut, but his fist had landed right beside her head, he hadn't aimed for her, he'd just wanted to end the fight. Eric let out a small laugh.

They were both panting, him on top of her. Tris gulped as she felt her cheeks warmer than it was supposed to be even after physical exercise. It was a sight, watching Eric panting above herself. Some strands of his long hair were falling down his shoulder, the ends tickling her collarbone. He finally removed the hand that was still trapped between her back and the mat.

"That's not fair. You weren't supposed to fight back." Tris managed to say between pants.

"I don't recall saying I wouldn't," he chuckled arrogantly and pushed back a strand of blond hair that was stuck to her forehead. "So, I repeat my question. You feeling any better, Stiff?"

"Yes, I do actually." She laughed nervously.

He smirked and sat off of her. "So the little Stiff is no longer scared of me, uh."

Tris used her hands to support her and sit up. She tried to focus her gaze on his eyes but it was really hard as his toned chest and abdomen were exposed. Not to mention his skin was covered in sweat and his hair was tousled, sticking to neck, his grey eyes were glistening with amusement and it all made him way too attractive to her. Her gaze focused on his tattoos; they covered his neck, collarbone and shoulders in complex tribal patterns. Oh how she wanted to lean closer to him, she wanted to study and admire the patterns and trace them with her fingertips. She wanted to feel his warm skin."

"After all, _I'm not a bad person._" He said in a voice too soft for him. He smirked again.

"Oh," Tris was startled. So he did remember when she told him those words. "Shit," she muttered.

Eric laughed, "Tris don't make that face, I told you I wasn't drunk. It was only a beer."

"Well," she tried to answer as she felt her cheeks heat up, "I guess you did," she finished lamely.

They sat beside each other for a few seconds. Tris cleared her throat, she'd gradually regained a steady breathing.

"I missed home," she whispered to instantly regret having opened her mouth. _Why the hell was she telling him this? _Eric looked back into her eyes. "I mean," she stammered, "I don't know, I wish I could see my parents. But I can't. With the whole _faction before blood_ rule. My friends haven't been really comforting; they all pity me because of Peter. And Four kind of got on my nerves humiliating me in front of everyone. I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't really think straight when I hopped on the train. And I shouldn't have. Caleb, my brother, he's such a jerk. You should have seen his reaction when he saw me. He practically denied me as a sister and insulted our parents," Tris stopped when she realized how casually she was talking to Eric. "You're not mad anymore?" she carefully asked.

Eric snorted. "Hell yeah I am mad. A Dauntless initiate going to the Erudite compound on her own to visit her brother. Without permission. This is new. And you can't do that again," he warned.

Tris slowly nodded. "Sorry."

"Come on, let's get out of here," Eric stood up.

Tris nodded again, stood up with difficulty; all her muscles were sore but it felt good. It wasn't a bad soreness; she'd fought hard and she truly felt lighter. So light that she believed if she tried to jump, she would jump higher than usual. She walked to the punching bag she had beaten before the little "sparring" with Eric. There lied the sweater that she had removed earlier. She picked it up.

She looked up at Eric. His back was to her and her breath caught in her throat. The muscles of his back were impressive. Her eyes were fascinated by the dip of his back and the dimples just above his trousers. He bent down to retrieve his own shirt and his back muscles contracted. Tris shook her head. What was wrong with her?

"Eric?"

"What?"

"I guess I should give it back," she held the sweater in front of him.

Eric eyed her for several seconds. "Just keep it."

Tris frowned.

Even if it hurt his pride deeply, Eric admitted to himself that he had actually wanted to comfort her. He had repressed the want to slid an arm around her shoulders when she'd repeated once again that she missed her home. She looked so miserable. Not to mention that her damn Erudite brother failed to cheer her up.

So he'd told her to keep his sweater. There wasn't any rational explanation behind this. It was just that he wanted her to have something from him as he couldn't give her an embrace.

So when Tris hugged his sweater against her chest and whispered a small "okay" his stomach tightened.

"It looks funny on you, Stiff. You're so minuscule," he smirked.

Her jaw dropped open at his crude remark but he simply walked towards the door of the training room without looking back, shirt in hand.

What was she doing to him? Eric didn't cut her from initiation like he would have done with any other initiate. He didn't want to yell at her nor punish her; he genuinely cared for her. He'd just trained with her as an attempt to cheer her up. He'd just given her his sweater.

"Eric?" she called him and he turned. "I know part one of Initiation is finished but do you think I can come back here tomorrow?" she asked wearily.

Eric shrugged. "You're not a full Dauntless member yet," he began and smiled when she looked so defeated. "And you will never be if you wander out of the compound ever again. But-" Her face brightened. "You can be here with supervision. I planned on coming here tomorrow. Same time."

"Thank you," she gave him a wide smile.

"Trust me you won't be so thankful tomorrow," he chuckled darkly, "I plan on making you work out your triceps, biceps and deltoids."


	8. Chapter 7

**AN: **Do you guys listen to epic music? There are tons of 2 hours mixes of epic music on youtube. It is just awesome to read while listening to it.

Thank you everyone for your reviews :)

This chapter is kind of long, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 7**

It was early morning when Christina and Will jumped on Tris's bed.

"Wake up! Wake up!" they chanted loudly, Will shaking her shoulders and Christina sitting on Tris's stomach.

Tris managed to turn on her stomach and she groaned.

"Stop it you're giving me headaches" her voice rasped because of her sleepy state. "How can you be so lively this early in the morning?"

"Stop complaining and get up or you'll miss breakfast" Christina shot back

"When you'll stop being so heavy and get off of me"

"Alright we're going ahead. Hurry up if you want to eat with us" Will added before standing up and dragged Christina out.

After ten minutes of turning around in her bed, Tris finally admitted that her friends were really good at waking people up. Sleep just wouldn't come back.

She sighed, pushed back the covers and shuffled slowly toward the bathroom all the way rubbing at her eyes.

After a quick shower, she put on black cargo pants and a tank top from the drawer below the mattress of her bed. Then she grabbed the black sweater Eric gave her. She stared at it for several seconds. She thought about going back to the bathroom to wash it; but then she glanced around her to check if she was alone and she brought the sweater to her nose. She closed her eyes and sighed.

As she expected it smelled slightly like him.

There was no way she would wash it. At least not for a few days.

Tris put it on, she pulled up the collar to her nose and inhaled again. Then she blushed at her own stupidity.

She jogged to the cafeteria and smiled when she spotted her friends. A quick glance toward Eric's table confirmed her that Uriah was still eating with him. Her smile spread even wider. She was tempted to sit with them.

No. It was too embarrassing.

She took a sit next to Will.

"Morning" she smiled

"You took your time."

"I took a shower."

"And you are _again_ wearing his sweater," Christina remarked. "Okay it was fun to tease you the first time but you seriously need to get rid of it. It's becoming weird and freaking scary. One could think he's your boyfriend or something. Ew." she made fake puking sounds.

Tris bit the inside of her cheek to avoid from yelling at her friend.

She grabbed a toast and took a deep calming breath.

"Don't be silly. This sweater is comfortable and Eric didn't ask it back. So I'm keeping it and making good use of it."

"Can we please stop talking about Eric" Will raised his eyebrows. "Anyway, like I was telling Christina, I planned on asking Four a few questions about the fear landscapes."

Christina groaned.

"Shut up. So Tris, don't you find it intriguing that our bodies still move during the simulations? I mean it's not only happening in our heads. I believe that the serum also has an action on the inner ear because it is obviously controlling our balance. For exemple, if you fall in the fear, you will really feel like falling; however there is no falling in reality, there is no hole in the floor. You see?"

Tris nodded but she had stopped listening after the first words. Her focus was not on the action the serum had on her inner ear but on Eric. She kept glancing furtively at him.

"That's why I think the serum must have an effect on the vestibular system. But that's the question, how does it work? I know it's probably on duping the hair cells but I want to know what active ingredient the serum contains. You see, it could be a neurotransmitter that-"

"Will!" Christina cut him, "Please just stop blabbering already" she whined.

"Excuse me but the simulation serum is really interesting and it concerns all of us."

"Oh but how come no one cares?" Christina said in a bitchy voice.

Will huffed, "Then stay as ignorant as a baboon! No, worse than a baboon!"

After a few minutes of arguing, the three of them talked about their different fears.

Tris had no motivation to go under a simulation again. The last time she went, she freaked out and was humiliated in front of everyone by Four. She didn't want to see Four either. He infuriated her but at the same time she was a bit scared to face him; though she would not admit it even to herself. She shouldn't have slapped him. It felt good, though.

She sighed heavily.

Today was certainly going to be a hard day once again. At least she was going to train with Eric right before dinner.

She sighed again; but not for the same reason and this time she was smiling.

"What are you smiling for?"

"Nothing." Tris bit her lip.

:::::

"Tris!" Four yelled at Tris, "stop right here!"

She sighed in frustration and finally agreed to listen. She spent the morning in the Pit with Christina and Will. Just when she excused herself because she wanted to give both of her friends some privacy, Four had spotted her and tried to talk to her but she had ignored him and walked away until now. She stopped but refused to turn, so he was forced to march in front of her.

"Will you please listen to me?"

She simply stared at her angry instructor, her mouth set in a thin line to keep the bad words she had in mind to slip out. She also raised an eyebrow to appear arrogant and defiant in case he was going to reprimand her for her behavior.

Four exhaled heavily through his nose.

"I just want to help you. When will this idea get through your thick skull?"

"Yeah right, because injuring me with a knife, shouting at me and humiliating me in front of everyone is helping me so much. Thank you Four. I don't know what I'd do without you and your precious help."

"I thought you'd got over the knife thing. And _you_ slapped _me_! _I _should be the angry one here" he sighed, "I give up. But I don't want- Just listen to me okay?"

He waited for a few seconds to have her full attention.

"You need help" he whispered.

Her eyes narrowed. _Thank you Captain Obvious._

"Listen if I don't help you on this, they will know- I mean you-" His eyes flickered sideways "Look, I'm not going to let that happen. I'll help you for the D-Day."

Tris was struck. Four was going to help her through the final test. Wait. Now that she thought about it. Did it mean he was divergent? According to what Tori said, Four either knew someone divergent or was divergent. But if he knew how to hide it during the fear landscapes, there was a great chance that he was divergent and had to do it himself. And Four finally was going to give her advices.

"When you're in a simulation, act like a true Dauntless would. You cannot keep on controlling the sim. I thought you would have guessed it by yourself with my comments, I'm sorry" He added in a hushed tone.

She almost wanted to cry; she was so thankful that Four was finally willing to help but at the same time it was really frustrating that he didn't come to her earlier. She had been moping for days, afraid that she was going to be tracked down by Eric and killed by him or Jeanine or whoever was controlling him in Erudite. When it could have been so easier, Four decided to help only now. At least he was helping.

"Right, so for your Final Test, keep what I said in mind. Like a Dauntless in simulation."

"Four, wait!" she called him when she saw he was already walking away. "Wait. Are you-". She had to know. Was he divergent too?

"Calm down." Four added in a hushed tone.

"You are one?"

"Not so loud." He glanced around them as if someone was listening to them.

"So you are" Tears welled up in her eyes. Someone divergent actually passed his final test and was alive. And was willing to help her do the same.

"It doesn't matter. Just focus on what I told you and we'll see how it goes tomorrow" He whispered and turned again. Tris held up her hand and grabbed his sleeve.

"Thank you" she whispered when he looked at her over his shoulder.

Four turned his body again to face her. He gently took her hand that was gripping his jacket and patted her head. Sobs were now shaking her shoulders and tears spilled out of her eyes. Maybe she wasn't going to die anymore. The fact that someone like him made it alive was reassuring and it made her want to believe she could do it; it gave her hope. She couldn't contain her tears.

"Tris" he soothed her. "It's going to be alright. Be strong."

She nodded and wiped her tears away.

"Sorry. And… sorry I slapped you"

"No worries." He shook his head, "I shouldn't have been so harsh on you. But I've got to say, you have a strong hand."

They both laughed at that.

Four looked at his feet before speaking up again.

"I suggest we go into my fear landscape and I show you how it's done the Dauntless way."

Tris said nothing, she gaped at him. How could he suggest such a thing? They barely knew each other; she would certainly not want to go into his head.

"I promise you it'll be okay. And it would allow me to show you exactly how I did on my final test." He insisted.

"Four, I don't really want to go through your fears, it is way too personal." He tried to cut her but she continued, "we barely know each other. I refuse. I mean thank you for wanting to help but sincerely, I can't do that."

Four sighed in defeat and his eyes darted to the side.

"Then let's go through Lauren's fears and I'll teach you. If that's alright with you?"

Tris nodded and crossed her arms, hugging the sweater close to herself in the process. She didn't like this idea either but she had no choice if she wanted to learn.

:::::

Eric stood up, ready to leave the meeting. He was impatient to go back to the Dauntless compound; Tris would be in the training room as they agreed the day before. He smirked at the thought of fighting with her again.

"Oh and one more thing, Eric."

He stopped in his tracks.

"I'd like to talk to you about Beatrice Prior. I believe she's one of your initiates."

His heart jumped but he kept a calm expression.

"The Stiff? She goes by Tris in Dauntless" Eric thought that calling her "Stiff" was probably the best option to avoid any suspicion from Jeanine.

"Tris." She paused, "what can you tell me about her?"

"Not much. The Stiff almost got cut at stage one. I have to say I was impressed to see her pass. But she worked hard and improved. She's good with the simulations; probably one of the best initiates this year."

"Just as I thought." Jeanine crossed her legs and rested her joined hands on her lap.

"Beatrice is the daughter of Andrew Prior from the governmental council. As you know there's a high amount of Divergent rebels in Abnegation. And I have to say I was surprised when I found out that Andrew's daughter transferred. Andrew and his perfect Abnegation wife could only produce an Abnegation daughter."

Eric felt his stomach drop. He shoved his hands in his pockets to appear casual. _Oh shit. She's probably Divergent._

"You think the Stiff's Divergent?" Eric exclaimed in a mocking tone.

"You understood me, I believe." Jeanine coldly remarked.

"But she did pass the Aptitude Test. And all those simulations in stage two."

"Oh but she is smart, surely she's found a way to hide it" Jeanine smiled, "I discovered that not only her results of the aptitude test were entered manually, but also her data of simulations in stage 2."

"Alright" Eric cleared his throat, "what do you want me to do?"

"Oh nothing, Eric." She smiled again, "at least for now."

"As you know many of the suspected Divergent rebels have managed to pass the final Test. I am certain that there are actual rebels among the Dauntless, rebels that slipped through our fingers. But it's fine, they're a minority; when everyone will be under the serum, you'll just have to shoot them on sight like I instructed you before. I just want you to watch for Beatrice and kill her when the time will come. That is, if she passes her final Test without revealing her true nature. In the case that she fails; I will send my men to arrange her an unfortunate suicide. And of course there's the thin possibility that she is not Divergent."

Eric said nothing. He just stared at Jeanine, fists clenched in his pockets. He had to fight to keep calm features and repress the urge to crush her nose under his knuckles. _That would feel fucking good. _If the bitch could also cease her smiles it would help.

"Well, you can go know, Eric."

Eric nodded and went out of her office as calmly as he could.

That bitch was asking him to kill Tris. _His Stiff._ There was no way he would be able to kill her.

At least it wasn't completely sure that Tris was Divergent. _Hell_. _Of course she is Divergent_. There were too many evidences. God, his Stiff really brought him trouble. And when did she become _his _Stiff?

That was the problem, Eric realized. He just had to stay away from Tris. If he didn't care about her, he'd have no problem to kill her. His throat suddenly felt dry and he nervously cracked his knuckles.

Eric robotically came back to Dauntless; he was too lost in thought. He didn't even remember jumping in the train nor getting out of it.

_Fuck it_, he would still go to the training room. He wasn't going to let Tris and Jeanine manipulate him more than they were already; he just needed to punch at something to calm his nerves. Eric was now tempted to imagine Jeanine's face as a punching bag. He would go.

:::::

After Tris and Four went through all of Lauren's fears, Tris felt a little more confident. She was walking behind him down the stairs of the upper part of the Dauntless compound above the glass floor. She was lost in thought, thinking of which fears would show up in her fear landscape and how she could overcome them.

"There's something I want to show you; follow me." Four smiled at her over his shoulder.

"Oh. Alright."

Tris was feeling more at ease with Four. She trusted him a little now that he was helping her, so she didn't see a reason to refuse to follow him.

They walked down the stairs until they arrived at the Pit.

"Where are we going?" Tris asked curiously

"You'll see."

They headed toward the Chasm. As soon as she saw Four nearing the railing and felt a lump in her throat.

"Four?"

"I always come here when I want to be alone" he gave her a small smile.

Tris wasn't sure following him was a good idea anymore. She felt insecure near the railing. Maybe if it was Eric she wouldn't be scared. Eric was a confident man and if he was the one to tell her to follow him down the freaking Chasm, she would have felt alright because he would catch her if she slipped. She knew Eric would. But-

_Shit!_

"Four! What time is it?" Tris suddenly raised her voice.

"What? Do you have something else planned?" he raised both of his eyebrows

"The time, please?"

At her urgent tone, Four hastily pulled up his sleeve to access to his watch.

"4PM"

"I have to go!" _Double shit! _Tris had just remembered that she had a training planned with Eric in the afternoon. Her problem with her divergence and the fear landscape completely monopolized her mind for the past hours.

"But I was just going to show you my spot. Who are you meeting?" he scowled.

"I'm so sorry Four I really need to go now." Tris turned away and ran to the training room. To Eric.

She couldn't hold back, she had to run while a silly smile was plastered on her face. Tris didn't even took notice of Four's shout when she ran away nor she did think about the rudeness of her action. She just wanted to go to the training room.

However when she barged through the doors of the room, her smile faltered.

Eric was not there yet.

But he would come. He told her he would, so she would wait.

Tris headed to the mats and sat at the ledge of one. She tried to regain a normal breathing after the run she made to arrive. She also tried to ignore the uneasiness she felt about the thought of meeting Eric, it caused some strange tightening in her abdomen.

:::::

Eric stood outside the training room. He took a deep breath and entered.

Tris was sitting on a mat, her hands supporting her head and her elbows resting on her knees. Seeing her petite figure, Eric felt a wave of warmth course through his veins. She looked so fragile. But not in a pathetic way, more in the way that it pushed him to protect her. What was she doing to him? He ran a hand through his hair.

As soon as she saw him, her face brightened and she stood up.

_Wait, she was waiting for me?_ Eric thought.

"Eric" she happily greeted him. Oh shit, why was she smiling? She'll just make things more difficult.

"I need to punch today" he said. _What a great way to greet her. _Eric cursed in his head.

"Oh" she walked to him, "do you want to-"

"Tris, I really need to hurt something, alright?" he cut her tensely.

"Right. So, um, I'm just going to run laps, I guess."

Eric nodded and muttered a 'sorry' in his deep voice. He walked to the boxes at the wall. He took from it two strips of white cloth and wrapped his knuckles with it.

Tris ran a few laps while daring to glance at him from times to times. Eric really seemed angry and she really didn't know how to act in front of him. That's why she opted for running.

She had been in Dauntless for only a few weeks but she already came to enjoy running. She genuinely liked the feeling of freedom; each time she'd want to run more than the last to surpass herself. But she had to admit she enjoyed this particular run partly because it allowed her to spend time with Eric. They could almost call themselves friends; or well, maybe not yet, but at least he was not ignoring her. Tris was proud of herself; her little plan to improve Eric's image worked. Uriah certainly had a big mouth. Since she'd revealed to Uriah that Eric had saved her life, the word had reached every Dauntless member. Not to mention that Eric became Uriah's idol. The boy would follow Eric whenever he could –when they didn't have simulations. At lunch, he sat at Eric's table that was normally empty. Tris had once laughed at Uriah for being scolded by Eric; apparently Eric did not appreciate Uriah's constant presence. She couldn't help but imagine Uriah becoming a leader. Eric wouldn't be able to avoid Uriah if he became a leader too –that is if Uriah maintained his ranking.

She sighed. Eric made her forget her problems. It was paradoxal; he was the first person likely to remind her of her Divergence, and yet, here she was, appreciating her time with him.

She glanced at him. His punches were so powerful that the bag kept swinging dangerously and her eyes widened as she wondered if it would explode at a point.

She stopped running when he groaned, grabbed the bag with both hands and lightly smacked his forehead against it. He stayed in this position, forehead against the cold bag. Without her footsteps nor his punches against the bag resonating, a silence descended within the room. She could only hear his hard breathing and her small pants.

She slowly walked to him.

When he was within arm reach she tentatively lifted her arm, but dropped it at a second thought.

"Eric?" she called him in a hushed voice, as if scared to startle him or brutalize him.

He slightly turned his head, still leaning heavily against the bag, and stared at her through half lidded eyes.

She could see the torment in his grey eyes and felt the urge to help.

After a while, Eric broke eye contact, took a deep breath and straightened himself.

"I'll be going" his deep voice interrupted the heavy silence. "Don't mind me. Keep running."

This said, he walked out of the training room, her gaze following him in awe. _What was wrong with him?_ They were supposed to train together like the last time. Something wrong was going on. She'd find what.

When the door closed behind him, she snapped from her trance and confidently went after him. But silently. She still didn't know how he would react if she came running after him. She would just keep a good distance between them.

A few minutes later she recognized the corridors and realized he was simply heading back to his apartment. She wouldn't find out anything. Yet she didn't stop following him.

"Okay, what do you want?" he suddenly turned and she jumped. _Shit._

Tris cleared her throat. "Um. Well you seemed- I'm sorry. I just," she sighed heavily, "What's going on?"

"Stop following me, Stiff."

She gaped at him when he simply turned back on his heels. That was it. He was not getting to act civil with her one day and then suddenly change back to his old habits; especially when he clearly had problems and no friend to be with.

Even more confident than before, she went after him again.

When Eric heard her loud footsteps behind him, he almost forgot his frustration toward Jeanine and had to repress a smile. His little Stiff was surprising him once again. This situation was being completely ridiculous. Tris wasn't even trying to be discreet; she was literally stomping the ground with her heavy combat boots.

"Eric!"

He snorted. _What the hell. Did she really dare to yell._

He continued to walk away. Now they reached the corridor of his apartment.

"Eric!" she yelled again. "Please!" she pleaded.

Eric turned and sighed. She just would never let it go, would she?

They stared at each other for a minute, standing a few feet apart. He focused on her eyebrows and eyes; she looked sad. Or worried? He didn't understand; she was furious right before.

"Eric, is there something wrong? Do you have a problem?" she whispered.

He brought a hand to his forehead and massaged his scalp. He didn't know how to answer or how to feel. This was the most unexpected thing that had happened to him since he was a leader. She seriously cared about him and it warmed him. He smiled and chuckled tiredly.

Tris frowned. It was rare to see a genuine smile from him. Each time he either laughed or smiled, it was to be sarcastic and cruel or mock her.

Now here he was; smiling. But his eyes looked tired.

She slowly walked to him, never letting go of his tired gaze.

"What's wrong?" she whispered eyeing him worriedly

Eric bore his gaze into hers. Then he closed the gap between them. He wasn't thinking anymore. He was simply embracing her presence.

He rested his forehead against hers, ignoring Tris's small jolt when their skin still hot from training made contact.

They stayed like this for a long time. Neither of them remembered who was the first to wrap their arms around the other. Their embrace was overwhelming. Tris fitted perfectly against him. It was as if his arms had waited forever for her. He could feel her warmth through their clothes and it felt _good_.

"Everything's fine" he whispered.

She shifted a little in his arms to look up at his eyes.

"You sure?" she murmured.

He nodded.

His chest tightened. What was this pain for? Oh right. _Guilt_.

He was supposed to kill her when the time came.

Kill her.

* * *

**AN:** I'm sorry it took me some time to post this chapter! There were parts I needed to change in this chapter and I ended up adding and changing a lot of things.

Starting from now, I won't be able to post weekly like I was doing before. But chapter 7 was really long so I hope it makes it up for me :p It was actually my longest chapter, I surprised myself! I thought about splitting it but it didn't felt right to stop the chapter until the "Kill her".

I'm sorry if the AN on the last chapter was rude. Feel free to post a review or not!

Thank you everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed :D

PS: Am I the only one who thinks ffnet is a smart evil invention to keep us from studying?


	9. Chapter 8

**AN: **Thank God! A wifi connection! I don't know why mine won't work. I am currently sitting at a brand new cafe. In my city there are no coffee shops like in the US or other countries... So it is quite a miracle to find a place like this with free wifi -not to mention that their coffees are really good!

You guys be glad -and me too; if it wasn't for their free wifi, there would have been no update this week!

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Eric was marching towards the Pit. He needed to find Max and give him the damn simulation results. It had been already more than half an hour that he was searching for him in the compound and he had a meeting planned with Jeanine at Erudite in 40 minutes. Not to mention that it was a 20 minutes train ride to go there. He simply had to hurry. Jeanine wasn't the kind of woman to be tolerant about lateness. He knew the best thing to do was to go to the control room and ask Tobias where was Max. But he refused to see him for help.

He cursed in his head.

He was so lost in his thoughts and various curses that when he turned around the corner he did not notice the petite blond girl. And apparently she did not see him either because they bumped into each other hard.

He stumbled back and almost lost his footing but caught himself on the wall. However Tris lost her balance and fell on her butt with a little squeak.

When she realized who she had bumped into, she blushed at the stupid squeak she had let out. She couldn't have looked dumber and Eric was certainly going to yell at her saying that she could have looked where she was going.

"Fuck! Look where you're going, Tris!"

Eric was so predictable she almost wanted to roll her eyes. She didn't in order to avoid igniting his fury even more. But at least he called her 'Tris' and not 'Stiff' and just because he did, she didn't mind him yelling at her.

"I'm sorry, okay" she apologized from the floor she was still sprawled onto.

"Sorry? But it's not gonna change the fact that I am even more late than before and now I'm mad! I need to stay focused! Thank you!" he growled

"Hey!" she snapped back and stood up, "it's not my entire fault! If I recall correctly, _you_ were also not looking where you were going!" she rubbed at her sore butt and noticed the skin of his right arm was scraped. She quickly understood he scraped his arm against the hard stone wall when they had crashed.

"Your arm" she stopped raising her voice and took his wrist in her hand to get a closer look.

"It's okay." He said harshly and snapped back his arm earning a glare from Tris. He marched the end of the corridor to the Pit, ignoring her.

"Eric!" she could not believe it, after the moment they had shared the day before, she would have expected more from him. He didn't even ask if she was alright, though her butt ached from the hard fall. After all, Eric was as solid as a brick wall and both of them crashed at full speed. She knew from the soreness, her butt already bruised.

Eric said he was late. It must be something really important, she guessed. "Hey what's going on?" she called after him.

When he didn't answer she stubbornly decided to go after him. She had a free day and she would rather spend time with him than with Christina bitching about everyone or Will having a debate with himself about the simulation serum.

"Don't follow me Tris; I don't have the time to talk."

"What's that you're holding?" she asked when she noticed the folder in his left hand.

"You ask too much questions"

"I can help you if you want."

"Go away"

"You obviously need help. You said you were late" she said slyly.

Eric groaned and glared at her. She was now walking at his side smirking. But when he began to climb the steep stairs, she had to stay behind him.

"Eric" she called

"Damn it! I'm late okay! I don't need you to annoy me! I need to find Max and quickly! He's not in his office!" he yelled above his shoulder.

"So you need to find Max, that's it. I can try to find him"

"No you can't"

"Why would you say that?"

"You ask too much question"

"But I-"

"Tris!" he cut her, "leave me alone."

He was acting so distant and mean, she really wanted to push him or hit him. But she couldn't risk him to fall down the Pit so she waited until they arrived upstairs. As soon as they walked 10 meters, Tris drove a clenched fist in his back. She knew she couldn't hurt him that much because he was tough but at least it would stop him. She didn't know from where she gathered the courage to do it. Now that it was done, she could only wait to see his reaction.

Eric stopped walking and turned slowly.

"Why the fuck would you do that?" he said in a menacing tone and anyone could read the fury in his eyes.

She wasn't scared of him. That's what she was trying to convince herself. He would never hit her. She pouted her lips and glared at him. She wished he would feel at least slightly bad for his behavior.

His expression changed back to calm.

"I just wish to help you. Will you please let me?" Tris asked

Eric sighed, "Even if I wanted, you really can't, okay? I need to give these papers directly to Max" he held up the folder.

"But I can do that" she frowned

"It's the simulation results. I can't hand it to an initiate."

"And why did you say you were late?"

"Confidential information. But I have to be somewhere in 30 minutes"

"Erudite, right?"

Eric groaned, "you know too much and you ask too many questions. Just go find your friends, alright, I can handle it myself."

"Why don't _you_ just go? I can find Max and I promise I won't look inside the folder" They stared at each other for a few seconds while she waited him to accept her suggestion. He could trust her; she would never read the data.

Eric finally handed her the folder with a scowl. "I'm counting on you" he scratched his hair at the back of his head, making his muscles bulge and catching Tris's eye. Her face inwardly felt warm while she stared.

"I have to go" he cut her thoughts.

Then something pushed her to do the boldest thing she had ever done to a boy. She didn't know why, she didn't even try to stop the urge. She stepped closer to him before he could walk away and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her head was tucked under his chin and a small sigh escaped her lips.

She couldn't see his face so she had no idea how he would react after her bold initiative. She didn't have to wait long though; without a word, Eric placed an arm against her back pressing her closer to him and let his chin rest on top of her head.

"Will you be at the training room when you get back?" she asked quietly.

"Well, we've got to work out those small muscles you've got" he gently pinched her biceps and when she made to protest, he quickly added, "You were really good last time. It'd be a shame not to train."

Tris smiled. They would train together again.

"I'm late, Tris" he said softly.

Neither of them looked at the other when they parted. Tris tucked the folder under her armpit and headed back down to the Pit. She was horrified but ecstatic about what just happened, about the courage that pushed her to hug him. She was beginning to get used to these paradoxical feelings Eric awakened in her.

Tris didn't have to search long to find Max. When she arrived at the Pit, the first places she planned on checking were the shops and she directly caught sight of Max getting out of the tattoo parlor, laughing with another man.

"Sir" she called him

"Tris," He greeted her, "Just call me Max. What do you want, girl?"

"Eric asked me to give this to you."

"He did?" Max looked stunned; he glanced at the folder, then at the man standing beside him and then back to Tris. "You didn't look in there now, did you?" He took the folder when she shook her head in negation. "This damn boy! I asked him to give me these papers this morning! He's good at nothing."

Tris almost wanted to snap at him for being rude. It wasn't Eric's fault that he did not find him earlier!

"I'll be going, Sir." Tris nodded her head and walked away.

::::::

The day of the Final Test finally came. Four administered the orange serum to Tris and wished her good luck.

Luck. She didn't know if luck was needed; her performance would be based on her ability to ignore the urge to control the simulation. Not on luck.

Her training session with Four had been satisfactory. There shouldn't be a problem today either. She would make it alive in Dauntless.

She took a deep breath and faced 5 fears that she had already come across in stage 2 of initiation. It wasn't too hard if Tris ignored the shaking of her hands and the tightness in her stomach. The past days, she had already thought of strategies to overcome these 5 fears.

Everything went smoothly.

.

Tris was sitting at a table in the cafeteria. The only problem was that the room was empty. She whipped her head from her left to her right trying to catch sight of someone. But she was alone. Then she got a strange feeling in her guts telling her someone else was present in the room and she quickly turned around on the bench. It was as if she'd _sensed_ someone behind her. When she was satisfied no one was behind, she turned back on the bench toward the table.

She jumped. Eric was sitting right in front of her, his elbows resting on the table.

"Hey Stiff." The corner of his lips turned up into a smug smile. "Can I call you Tris?"

She sighed. God, she really liked the sound of his deep voice. But she eyed him warily, he was acting rather oddly; he seemed too peaceful and calm. Not to mention that he already called her by her name plenty of times before.

"Okay, what is going on?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing's going on, Tris."

"Then why is the cafeteria empty? Why are we even here?"

"We're just here to chat."

"Chat?" she stared at him in disbelief.

"Yes" he said, "I want to help you for the final test."

"It is already over. But I need-"

"Tris." His gaze became so intense that the words she had in mind completely slipped out of her mind.

Eric was definitely acting oddly.

"Tris." He repeated in that deep tone that makes her shiver. He leaned in."Tris, do you trust me?"

She did not expect this question. And a good question it was. One that she'd been asking herself for days. Did she trust him? He was a threat to her, the first one after Jeanine herself, that was a fact. But she had discovered him bit by bits the last few days. And there was so much more she wanted to know about him. She simply appreciated his presence that made her feel so safe –how paradoxical. He'd protected her, he'd helped her, comforted her. Deep down she knew that he would simply not hurt her. She sincerely believed it.

"Yes" she breathed, looking straight into his grey eyes. Yes, she would tell him the truth, she decided. No, he would not kill her, she knew it.

As soon as she answered, Eric smiled and searched for something at his belt.

"How touching" he smiled again

"E-Eric?" she stuttered. He was pointing a gun at her forehead. "What are you doing?" Her heart was pumping so loudly it hurt and she suspected he could hear it.

He laughed.

"You're so fucking pathetic, Stiff. Really? Trusting me? That is so fucking funny." He removed the security system on his gun.

"No" she whispered. Her heart was still beating too fast.

"Now you're gonna die, Stiff. I'll make sure it's a painful and slow death so that you have the time to mop over your mistake of trusting me." he smirked.

Tris's eyes widened in realization. If Eric was being so strange it was because she was still in her fear landscape! But she'd just never lived this fear in training, that's why she had been taken by surprise. She tried to calm down but it was no use she didn't like _at all_ the sight of Eric pointing this gun to her head and it felt so real. Her heartbeat wouldn't lower. She'd had to act like a Dauntless to get out of it. _Think!_

"What? Are you scared, Stiff?" Eric laughed again "Well you should, I'm going to burst your brain out after you've screamed to the point of ripping your vocal chords."

Seconds later, Tris noticed that no matter what, the Eric in the simulation didn't seem to be pulling the trigger soon enough. He kept babbling nonsense and didn't shoot though nothing kept him from shooting. She would attack and it should end smoothly.

Tris waited for him to speak again and in mid-sentence, she shot the length of her hand to Eric's wrist and his grip on the gun loosened. She quickly retrieved it with her other hand. She pointed it at him, stood from the bench and jumped on the table. Tris crouched just in front of him and pushed at his forehead with the tip of the gun.

He stared at her, an evil hungry smile marking his features while she looked down at him in sadness. She didn't expect it to be so hard, shooting the simulation Eric.

"Do it, Stiff" he taunted her. That damn horrible smile would not leave his face. She hated seeing her Eric with this malicious and sadistic expression.

Tris didn't care. She would not shoot at Eric, simulation or not, no matter how menacing he was acting.

Instead of pulling the trigger, she slammed the back of the weapon against his temple. She winced at the loud noise but at least it was over.

Indeed it was over. Letting out a shaky breath, Tris came back to reality. Lights blinded her vision for a moment but then she could discern the walls of the fear landscape room and the single door on her right.

She bent forward, leaned her hands on her knees and closed her eyes to calm herself down and regain a normal breathing.

The final test was over.

:::::

What was wrong with Tris? She was still scared of him; after all his efforts to be civil? That infuriated him. But it also reminded him that Tris was like any other initiate and he had nothing to do with her. He _could not_ get attached to her considering the fact that she was probably divergent and that he would have to kill her at some point. Still, he was mad at her. Deep down he understood why he was mad at her; he simply did not want her to see him as a sadistic fucker heartless enough to shoot her just after gaining her trust. He was nothing like this.

He cursed. He was going to have to shoot her. That was him after all.

The latest serum Jeanine sent them would be inside her system, like every other initiate. Not if he intervened _now_. If he didn't tough, her divergence would be exposed. But maybe she wasn't divergent; and there would be no problem, everything would go smoothly.

Then he was mad at himself. For caring. For caring about her and for caring about what she thought of him.

He had worked so hard for his current leader position and for Jeanine's plan. The major part of their plan was happening tonight. He could not let a girl distract him. He would not care about her anymore because he refused to give up on his planned future with power.

He clenched his jaw as he watched Max picking a long syringe that contained an orange serum, the color similar to their other simulation serums but it had a completely different purpose. Eric stiffened when Tris tensely nodded at Max and pushed back her blond hair for him to plunge the glistening tip of the syringe in the flesh of her neck. He stood there, not moving, watching like an external spectator. She looked up at Eric and their eyes met. He kept his eyes on hers.

It was selfish of him, but he was no abnegation and he would not regret his decision.

That's why he ignored the strong pang of guilt in his chest.

He clenched his fists at his sides and looked away.

::::

After a few hours of doing nothing in the Pit, Tris, Christina and Will all headed to the cafeteria for the feast and the rankings.

"Hey Tris, will you tell me what were you fears?" Christina smirked, "Eric seemed to be really pissed off at one point. He stood up and almost stormed out of the room. My guess, it that you saw him dressed in red and yellow dancing and singing under apple trees! God, he would be even creepier dressed like that than in real life!"

Tris scowled. If Eric was angry during her fear landscape it was surely because of the last one. When she had to shoot him; in the end she simply knocked him out, so why would he be angry? He'd wanted her to shoot? Or he was probably pissed off because it hurt his pride to be knocked out by _the Stiff_ in front of all the other leaders. Not to mention that in her fear, Eric asked her if she trusted him, and that is quite humiliating for the stoic image people have of him. But Tris knew better. Now that she thought about it, she was embarrassed herself. Why did he have to watch this fear? She had answered "yes" to the Eric in the simulation. And the real Eric watched _everything_. This was really embarrassing. Tris whined softly.

"Alright I get it, don't tell me now, we'll talk about it after the final RANKINGS!" Christina shouted happily the word.

Tris smiled at Christina's excitement. But she still held a little grudge at Eric. He had no right to be angry. And he didn't even address her a single word when all the leaders smiled and presented their congratulations just before Max shot her the serum. Tough he did watch her, and quite intently when Max plunged the needle in her flesh. She shuddered when she recalled the huge needle piercing her flesh.

Her frustration faded away when they entered the cafeteria; at Eric's usual table sat not only Uriah, but Zeke and a dauntless girl named Shauna if Tris recalled correctly. The sight of Eric eating with a group of people could only make her happy. She smiled cheekily and followed Christina. She promised herself to thank Uriah for bringing his brother and Shauna.

.

An hour later, Eric stood up and spoke in a mic.

"I have a few words to say but I'll keep it short. We're in Dauntless not Erudite" he shrugged and people laughed at that. Tris however snickered. She knew he was a great Erudite himself. "A new year. A new group of initiates who worked hard to be here tonight. We must congratulate them." Cheers erupted from every table, people stomped the floor, drummed on the tables.

Then Eric spoke a few words about the importance of courage. More cheers resonated.

"Tomorrow, ten of our best initiates will be fledged members of Dauntless. Behind me will appear the rankings to know who passed."

Tris didn't have a second to blink, the rankings were already displayed on the screen behind Eric.

Her heart jumped painfully in her chest.

First.

::::::

First.

Eric couldn't hold back a smile so he turned his face away and tried to hid it with his long hair. Then he cleared his throat and his expression returned to normal; nasty and serious.

To give himself composure, when he sat back beside Uriah who was being too loud shouting and cheering, he smacked him on the back of his head.

"Hey! I didn't do anything wrong!" Uriah whined

"Yes you did. You're tearing my eardrums apart."

"But I'm second! Second! Can you believe it, Eric?" he yelled.

Eric smirked, "Yes, when could have been _first_; so stop shouting or I'll find some painful way to shut your big mouth once and for all."

"Come on, man" Zeke laughed, "let him be happy! He's part of us now. You're part of us now lil' bro!"

Uriah yelled again an incomprehensible sentence which included the words "second", "the best", "leader"

"Where's Tris?" he suddenly asked, "Where is she, Zeke? She's first! First! Eric! She's first! Oh there she is! TRIS!"

Zeke and Shauna burst into laughter as they watched him run to where Tris was. Even Eric let out a chuckle. Uriah went to hug her but he couldn't stop his speed so he ended up tackling her to the ground and the whole cafeteria heard Tris's angry yells.

"URIAH!", "GET OFF OF ME YOU BASTARD!" and "I bumped my head on the floor you stupid jerk!"

But after a few moments both of them were laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

Uriah danced and jumped. He lifted Tris in the air. Then Christina who was sitting on Will's shoulders shoved both of them to the ground. Will lost his balance and the four of them were sprawled on the floor laughing uncontrollably.

From his table Eric watched Tris's wide smiles and her shoulders shaking in laughter and the happiness that sparkled in her eyes. He didn't even try to suppress his smile; it was so good to see her like this. For the first time, someone else's happiness seemed to him more valuable than his own. He realized it. And even if he knew it was a bad thing for his plans, he could not help but relish the warm feeling in his chest that was able to make him smile so easily.

A hand clasped on his shoulder and he turned to see who it was.

Max was looking at him in seriousness. Eric's smile faltered.

He needed to focus on the plan. Not on Tris.

:::::

Tris woke up because of a terrible pain in her head. She grumbled and tried to sit up in her bed.

She caught a glimpse of her fellow initiates leaving the dorm.

"Chris?" She whispered. But there was no answer, Christina left with the others. Tris panicked and got up, put her combat boots trying to ignore her headache as much as she could. But as soon as she made a step, she felt a strong dizziness adding to the pain. She let out a cry and tried to steady herself. Never had she had a headache this painful.

"Eric" she muttered under her breath. He would know what to do. Something was wrong with her. Something was wrong with everyone.

So she stumbled to the corridors, heading straight to his apartment, leaning against the walls. She had to make several pauses not to fall to her knees because of the blinding ache in her head. _What it wrong with me? _She hated not being in control of what was happening to her. And this situation was exactly it; she didn't know what could cause such a pain to point of making her sweat and shiver, it swallowed her strength. She hated it. She almost wanted to cry.

When she got to his door, panting and whimpering, she leant heavily against it. She realized she had decided on a whim to go to his apartment and now she was hoping that he was home. Just as she did, the door opened and as she fell, strong arms wrapped around her.

His presence was so reassuring to her. She already felt safer now that he held her.

"Tris? What-"

"Eric," she breathed, "som- something's wrong with me" she croaked out.

"Shit!" Eric cursed in realization. If she went to him and if she answered to her name, it meant that she wasn't under the simulation "Oh fucking hell. You really are divergent".

He held her even tighter in his arms. Only fear could be seen in his wide-opened eyes as his head was fuming in thought. What was he supposed to do? Resign to care about her and kill her right there and then like he would have done with anyone else? Or ignore his reasoning, listen to his instinct and hide her?

He took a step back into his apartment and closed the door behind them. He brought her to his couch and carefully lied her down.

The fact that she was divergent was a problem. A huge problem.

He dropped to his knees in defeat beside her and buried his face in his hands.

.

* * *

**AN: **Reviews please! I'd really appreciated some feedback. Tell me what you think. I can't help but find my writing less bad than in the first chapters. Maybe it's only a feeling, maybe it's only hope, I don't know!

Thank you my lovely beta Na-tan aka Shadoows for being amazing. The first scene in this chapter with Eric and Tris bumping into each other was her idea!

AAaaaAh I'm late! Gotta go! D: My friend is waiting for me!

But please review!


	10. Chapter 9

Imagine Dragons - _Battle Cry_

This song inspires me to write Eric whenever I'm lost. This song is just so "Eric" for me. Haha.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

The small apartment was almost silent. The only sounds that could be heard were the unsteady breaths of the girl lying on the couch and her small whimpers of pain. The only source of light came from the half opened bathroom door. Eric's distinct shape could be seen kneeling next to the couch.

He couldn't fool himself anymore, not that it had ever really worked. He obviously cared about her. He hadn't shot her when she came to his door fully conscious, had he? It pained him to see her suffer like this. But after all he'd worked for, all these years what was he supposed to do? He'd passed initiation.

He'd managed to become a leader. He'd made a name of himself, people feared him. And it was all thanks to Jeanine Matthews. Surely if he decided to help and protect Tris he would be betraying Jeanine, giving up on their plans. Or were they ever his plans? Or just her plans? He would not only be putting his career, but his own life at risk. Was he willing to do so? Did he have the guts? It all came back to braveness. Was he a true dauntless? Did he believe in ordinary acts of bravery and standing up for others?

This was bullshit. If he didn't do anything, Tris's life would be at risk.

"Eric?" Tris croaked out.

He removed his face from his hands and his eyes snapped to Tris's weak form on the couch. She was shivering; her skin seemed so pale and glistened with sweat. He studied her face; strands of blond hair were plastered to her cheeks and forehead. Her eyes were tightly shut and her jaw was clenched in pain. Eric was tempted to stroke her cheek to soothe her; he lifted his hand.

_No!_ Eric dropped his hand and stood up. He moved to the wall across from the couch. He could not afford to let himself waver. No, not even for Tris. He leaned his forehead against the cool wall, trying to block out the sight of her trembling on his couch, and pressed his fists next to his head. Just when he'd convinced himself to ignore her, she had to come to his door and reveal herself as a Divergent. She just had to be in pain. Why? No! He would not weaken. God, why did she have to make things so fucking difficult? His life would be so much easier if she'd never shown up.

"Why?" Eric shouted angrily.

He slammed his fists into the wall, leaving indentions there.

It was so powerful that a startled whimper came from the couch.

Eric whipped his head around at the sound. His gaze locked on Tris. She looked so weak. Tears were now rolling down her cheeks. He had never felt such pain that wasn't caused by a fist or boot to the chest.

Fuck it. Fuck it all.

Eric moved to her in one step. He could not bear to see her suffer any more. Fuck Jeanine. He'd think about the consequences later.

"Tris," he softly whispered. He bent down and gathered her in his arms as gently as he could.

"Eric," her small voice called for his attention, "I think I'm gonna puke." Her lips trembled as she clenched her eyes shut and gripped his arms. "Like, right now," he gulped.

Eric hastily carried her to the bathroom. As soon as she was kneeling before the toilet, another wave of nausea constricted her chest painfully. But nothing came out. She just cried. One hand held back her hair as he whispered soothing words to her, while the other wiped away the tears on her cheeks.

After a minute her knees failed her and she would have fallen on her side if Eric hadn't caught her. He pulled her against him as he stood up and then he carried her to his bed. He settled her head against pillows before reaching for the covers to wrap her shivering body.

"Tris," he said.

Eric kneeled next to the bed and bent until their foreheads touched. His black hair splayed around her face, just like her blond ones on his pillows. He vainly wished that he could take away some of her pain just by the contact.

"My head. It-it hurts so much," she cried, completely forgetting her pride at the pain. Tris would never usually complain about pain.

"It's okay." He hushed her moans of pain. "I'm here. I'm going to make it stop, alright?"

When he straightened to go for his door, something tugged at the sleeve of his jacket. He looked back at Tris and the hand she had on his sleeve.

"No." She licked her dry lips. Her eyes were pleading. "Don't leave," she slowly added in a voice that she probably wanted to sound strong, but still came out weak. Eric felt his chest tighten and reached for her face with both hands. He gently traced her cheekbones and jaw. He didn't want to leave either but he had no choice. He had to do something about her headache.

"Tris?" he pushed back all the strands of hair that stuck on her face because of the sweat.

"I have to take care of it, okay? I promise I'll be right back. I won't let anything happen to you. You're safe here. Just wait for me, alright?"

Tris stubbornly shook her head and gripped his jacket even more tightly.

"Trust me?" he whispered.

She shut her eyes, waited for a few seconds, and slowly nodded. Yes, she did trust him. She let go of his jacket.

Eric had discovered that she was Divergent and had then laid her down on his bed. He promised her he would stop the pain. Although she did trust him, she was still afraid that trusting him was a mistake. She couldn't help but remember her fear landscape during the final test. Now she would see what trusting him would bring her and what he would do about her Divergence. He hadn't killed her yet, but that didn't mean he wasn't about to leave to get someone to execute her.

"Eric kept walls around himself. From time to time she saw glimpses of the real Eric, but most of the time all she got to see was the same front he showed everyone. She couldn't say she truly knew him, but she liked to think she knew some things about him. She felt in her heart he was worth a try; he was worth an attempt to get him to open up and show his true self. Because he was so much more than what he let other people think of him. Despite outward appearances, Tris though Eric was brave and fearless. He was clever. He could be cruel, but it was caused by the turmoil inside himself. He just needed someone to get past all his barriers."

And she needed someone like him, someone clever that could understand her. Someone that wasn't as superficial as the others. She loved her friends, but they did not understand her as much as she would like; they did not notice her insecurity. Instead, they pitied her. They were no Eric. Tris was positive that he would come back and help her. He wouldn't betray her.

.

Once outside Eric let out a shaky breath. It broke his heart to leave Tris alone while she was suffering. He wanted to be beside her and hold her firmly against him. His decision was made. He was going to protect Tris and think about the consequences later. Eric was surely the perfect alpha Dauntless, but it didn't mean that he couldn't be as clever as an Erudite. After all Jeanine did not pick him to be part of her plan for nothing. So being the erudite that he was, Eric knew exactly what he had to do to stop Tris's headache; or at least, he hoped he was right.

He confidently walked to the control room, a few corridors and stairways away from his apartment. As far as Eric knew, only a few soldiers were in there. Among them was Tobias, but they were under the serum. Supposedly. There had been suspicions that Tobias was Divergent, but he had passed the final test either way.

He reached the metal door of the control room and slammed it open.

"Men!" he barked as he barged inside. Tobias and a Dauntless man were sitting in front of several screens that all showed different parts of the city where they could watch the mission and control the Dauntless soldiers under Jeanine's orders. Together, the screens made a wide one which covered almost all of the wall facing the door. Two other men were standing still near the door guarding the entrance.

The four men turned to Eric who stood in the middle of the red lit room. Their eyes were empty of any emotion; it almost frightened Eric.

"Yes, sir?" they answered monotonously in unison.

"Some Divergent rebels are hiding near the Pit. I don't want to waste my precious time chasing them. You go find them," Eric improvised. "Now!"

"Yes, sir." Tobias and the other man stood up at the same time and all four of the oblivious men exited the control room.

As soon as the door shut (removed close) again, Eric exhaled heavily in relief. Tobias really was under the control of the serum and he was glad for it; he didn't know how it would have turned out otherwise. Four had protected Tris before, so maybe they could have worked together to help her. No. Eric selfishly wanted to be the one to release her from her pain and keep her safe. He wanted to make up for all the things he'd done to her before. He had been such a jerk. He should have never let her take the serum after the Final Test.

Eric stepped toward the computer and its large screens.

"Alright," he muttered to himself while cracking his neck. "Thank you dear Jeanine". He knew exactly how to control the program thanks to her. He had no trouble navigating through the different menus. He found with ease the web that showed thousands of red icons scattering; each icon for a soldier. Red meant that the soldier was under the effects of the serum. He launched a search and quickly located the red icon that represented Tris. He clicked it. And with a swipe of his finger the icon switched to black, shutting off the effects of the serum

.

Eric was confident that the illness Tris was experiencing was the result of her mind fighting for dominance over the serum. Now that the program should be disabled on Tris, he thought that she should be okay.

He closed the program and switched back to the camera footage of a street in Abnegation that Four had been watching.

Eric didn't wait for the men to come back. He shut the door behind him and ran as fast as he could without being seen by the other dauntless who were not under the serum.

He was panting hard when he slammed against his door, not quite able to stop completely. His heart was beating fast, but he didn't wait to recover from his run. He opened the door, his eyes went directly to the bed.

To find it empty.

Eric frowned.

And almost lost his balance when something, or rather someone, slammed against him. Eric gripped the frame of the still open door and kept himself standing.

Tris had jumped at him, her arms tightly wrapped around his neck, but he was so tall compared to her that her tiptoes barely touched the ground.

Once her head had felt better Tris had been pacing the room, waiting for him to come back. When she had heard the keys turning, she had launched herself at the entrance without thinking.

It took Eric a moment to react. He groaned as relief flooded through him. He closed his arms around her small body and buried his face in the crook of her neck.

"Tris" he whispered and planted a kiss at the base of her throat.

Tris shivered and dropped her hands to his chest.

"Thank you," she croaked out, "thank you for making it stop. Even though you know I'm Divergent." She exhaled shakily and felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"I was so scared. When you left me here. I- I trust you. But I couldn't help thinking that maybe, maybe you-"

Eric lifted his head and let his eyes find hers. That was all it took to stop the end of her sentence. His gaze dropped to her slightly parted lips, then back to her eyes. He leaned towards her.

Tris took a step back, away from him.

She didn't _decide_ to move away from him; it had been a reflex to get away from Eric. Stupid reflex. She needed to work on that. She was too flustered and extremely nervous now though. She had never been this close to a boy before. Had never been intimate with anyone before. Eric was a man, not a boy. Eric and his breathtaking eyes and his inviting lips. As soon as she noticed the hurt look on Eric's face, she regretted moving away from him.

"The- the door" she stammered in an attempt to find an excuse, any excuse. Why didn't she just let him? Let him what though? Whatever it was she wanted it badly herself. She was so stupid, so so stupid.

Eric let out a nervous laugh and turned to close the door behind him. He understood perfectly that Tris didn't step away because of the damn door. He understood that she didn't want anything romantic with him. Of course. Why would anyone as gentle and kind as Tris want to kiss him? He shouldn't have even tried. It was already surprising that someone like Tris would befriend him. But then again, she shouldn't have thrown herself at him so recklessly, he thought bitterly. What did she expect?

He cleared his throat and turned to face her again.

"It was the serum they gave you this morning that was causing your-"

Eric stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Tris chewing on her lower lip while closing the gap between them. Eric didn't hesitate again. He crushed his lips to her.

He was instantly hit by an overwhelming sensation that almost made him groan.

Tris felt a rush of heat on her face and something in her chest tightened as she closed her eyes. Eric had met her lips so strongly that she stumbled back a bit; but he put one hand on her lower back and pulled her firmly to him. She was shocked by the coldness of his lip ring but he started to move his lips against hers. The sensation was too much for Tris, she made a little noise and gripped his shoulders.

His kiss was exhilarating. She felt alive. She tentatively kissed him back, causing him to make a deep noise in the back of his throat. Her hands caressed the back of his neck and disappeared into his black hair. He moved his hands up and down her back. Then she felt his tongue stroke her upper lip and she shivered again. She had never kissed anyone before, but she instinctively knew that opening her mouth was the right thing to do. She'd never felt that much sensation before. When his tongue found hers, she let out a whimper. Something stirred in her gut. Then his lip ring took her attention again and she sucked on it, causing another groan from Eric. Eric squeezed her waist and slid his tongue back inside her mouth, taking over control. Their tongues slid against each other sensually.

They finally parted, the need for air too overwhelming. Both of them were panting, still standing close enough for their foreheads to touch.

For a moment, just for a moment, the rest of the world didn't exist. The only thing that mattered to each of them was the other and the fact that they were together and safe.

"I feel so relieved." Tris sighed and moved her head back to look at his eyes. "You know about me and it feels so great. You don't know how much I wanted to tell you before, but I wasn't sure how you would react. And it was selfish to put you in a delicate situation because of all of this."

"The Stiff is back," Eric chuckled lightly. "For a moment I thought you were Dauntless."

"But I am a full Dauntless member now, remember?" she pouted jokingly.

"You know what?"

"What?" she whispered.

"You should really wash this sweater. It's been more than a week." He said while running his hand through her hair.

Tris tightened her arms around his torso and leaned her cheek on his collarbone.

"I don't want to."

"But you do have other sweaters to wear," Eric chuckled and she felt his chest rumble under her cheek. She buried her face in his shirt, enjoying his warmth.

"Yes, but it's not the same," came the muffled sound of her voice.

Had she looked up at that moment, Tris would have seen Eric's cheeks a shade redder than usual. Thankfully for him, she did not.

He leaned down and planted a kiss on her brow.

"You know, you can take whatever clothes you want from my drawers."

Tris almost squeaked; almost. She lifted her face from his chest and offered him a wide smile. He couldn't hold back a little smile either at the sight of her blue eyes sparkling with joy.

"Really?"

In response, he led her to the drawers.

"Can I take a shirt?" she gazed up at him.

He pulled a black sleeveless shirt from the bottom drawer and handed it to her.

"You can change in the bathroom."

Tris nodded with a smile and shut the door behind her once she was there. She quickly changed into the new shirt. As expected it was too large for Tris; so large that the sleeveless piece of cloth fell on both of her shoulders, giving the impression that she actually had short sleeves. In the privacy of the bathroom, she allowed herself to bring up the shirt to her nose and inhale. Then she inspected herself in the mirror and decided to wash her face, seeing how puffy her eyes were because of the tears.

After a minute, she walked out of the bathroom and headed back into his arms.

Then her eyes suddenly widened.

"Eric! What is going on with everyone? I almost forgot! They all acted like robots. It's a serum, right? That's how you knew about me. Because I wasn't under control."

Eric dropped his head on her shoulder and groaned.

"Why do you always have to bring me trouble, Tris?" he muttered. "My life was perfectly fine until you almost fell into the Chasm."

"Oh," Tris blushed, "I'm sorry."

"Your Abnegation is showing." He looked in her eyes, "You need to stay here in my apartment. I have to go, but you need to stay hidden."

"What? No. There's no way I am hiding. Tell me what's going on."

"You don't need to-"

"Eric. Tell me."

He ran a hand in his hair and sighed in frustration.

"Erudite is attacking Abnegation to take over the government. They needed an army, so they came to Dauntless. We collaborated with them to execute an attack."

"No," she breathed

"Jeanine has created a program that allows us to control every Dauntless member from the control room, thanks to a serum."

Tris's knees felt strangely weak. They were attacking Abnegation. Her parents were there. Was her brother involved in the attack?

"You. You worked on this with Jeanine. That's why you went to Erudite all those times."

"I am working with her," he nodded

She felt completely betrayed. She knew that he was involved with Jeanine but… Eric actively participated in the attack against her old faction. As a leader, he was partly responsible for the onslaught that was happening in Abnegation and in Dauntless. Her friends weren't even conscious of what they were doing. Eric helped plan this attack. Tris's hands were trembling. She had to flatten them against her thighs to steady herself. How silly she was; of course he was involved in such an attack. He had been controlled by Jeanine since the beginning and she already knew that. But, she had already decided Eric was worth her trust. That was it. She had to believe in him. There had to be more. She swallowed her saliva.

"But you saved me," she croaked out.

"When I was ordered to kill you on sight. Yes."

"Why?" her voice sounded desperate.

"Don't ask questions now. I have to go or they'll notice I'm missing."

"Wait! Why would they attack Abnegation? Why?" she raised her voice.

"Because, Erudite want power and the same goes for Dauntless!"

"But now you have the power to stop it right? You're a leader. They trust you."

She was almost crying. They had to do something or hundreds of people could die. "Eric!" Tris said louder, "we have to- you have to stop it. Innocent people are going to be executed!"

"Shut up. I already saved you, okay? I will hide you and no one will touch you. Isn't that enough for you?"

"Oh Eric." She looked up at him sadly, "It means so much to me that you saved me, but you have the power to stop it. You must destroy the program or whatever is controlling the serum." Tris stepped closer to him and clung to his arms. They felt so big in her small hands. She had no idea how she could persuade someone as tough as Eric. "You are their only hope."

"Stop it." He narrowed his eyes, "You don't get to order me around. Don't forget who I am. I won't change my plans."

She gripped his arms tighter.

"Why not?" she whispered. "Are you really willing to let them die when you know you are the only one able to save them? It's my parents they're trying to kill. The people I grew up with. Innocent people, Eric."

Eric moved his hand toward her cheek and wiped away the tear that rolled down silently.

"Please don't cry," he scowled. "I wish you were satisfied by your own safety."

"Eric," she said forcefully

"I can't," he turned away from her, clenching his jaw.

Tris held up a hand and settled it against his back.

"I don't understand," she whispered.

He waited a moment before answering, "I worked so hard for this." His voice wavered. "I won't screw everything up for you. Don't you dare ask me to do it. Please."

Tris's mouth clenched. He had said 'please', he actually had. Eric never begged. She wanted to hug him, to kiss him. But she had to focus on Abnegation.

She gripped his shoulder to turn him around and gave him a hard look. "Then let _me_ do it. Let me go to the control room and stop the program."

His eyes hardened at this. "I can't do that either."

"You can't stop me." She dared him.

"Yes, I can," he said as he drew his gun from his belt and pointed it at Tris. He clenched his jaw and stared into her eyes intently.

.

She gasped and stepped back. This was the last fear of her landscape replaying in front of her. Except now, it was real. Eric was pointing his gun at her. But it wasn't the same anymore, was it? She forced herself to calm down. Eric hadn't kill her before, even when he discovered her divergence. So why would he now? She wanted to trust him. She did.

"No," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "You won't shoot. I know you won't."

His jaw clenched again and he disabled the security lock on his weapon with a click.

"I won't let you mess with our plans."

Tris stepped forward slowly, one step after another, never dropping his gaze. When she was close enough, she reached for the gun, carefully. Both of her hands came to cover his on the gun; and she lowered his arms. Eric closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

"I still won't let you to the control room." He whispered.

"Then I'll go find my parents."

"No! You'll be killed on sight if they see you're not under control," he yelled.

"And if I _don't_ go, someone will kill my parents and other innocent people." She glared at him and went for the door of his apartment. When she reached for the doorknob, he didn't stop her. So she opened it and stepped outside.

"Wait."

In a click, Eric locked back the security system on the gun and tossed it to her.

"Take it. Soldiers are guarding the compound. They're conscious."

Tris nodded and shoved the weapon into the waistband of her pants.

"Tris," he clenched his fists at his sides, "don't do this."

She looked at him sadly, "I have to, Eric."

She walked back to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She buried her face in his shirt and inhaled deeply, as if to remember his scent, as if it was the last time she would see him. Maybe it was. Maybe she was running straight to her death. No. She wouldn't die. And she would save her parents.

What about Caleb? Was he going to stay with his new Erudite friends and laugh when he heard that Dauntless attacked Abnegation on behalf of his new faction? She pushed the thought aside. The priority was her parents right now.

Eric didn't return the embrace. His arms were limp at his sides. He locked his gaze on an imaginary point straight ahead. She noticed, and gave him a quick kiss on his jaw before awkwardly stepping back and rushing out of his apartment.

Once in the corridor, she allowed her tears out of her eyes.

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**AN:** Uuuh tiring. Finally it's done! I hope you enjoyed.

Give me your thoughts please!

I really need to thank DoctorSmith for this chapter. If I were her I would have at least yelled at me for asking her to read and correct all my horrible mistakes! I couldn't have possibly done something this good alone. I don't know how to show my gratitude because we're on a website...

100 followers! Aaah! This is insane. I never thought I'd have 100 followers! Thank you Na-tan for being my 1st follower and Mrs. Scott Summers 24601 for being the 100th :D

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**Update (March 23rd) :** To the Guest who signs each review with "L" - Thank you so much for the support, I really appreciate it.

I also wanted to thank all the new followers and simply anyone who reads my story. And... I'm sorry it will probably take me some time before the next update because I suck a writing action so it takes me longer to write and also I will be busy studying because I have exams coming up at the beginning of May and I really didn't study this semester... So don't think this fanfic is on hiatus; it is not, I know exactly what will happen next. I just need time to write it.


	11. Chapter 10

**AN:** Yay Chapter 10 is finally ready :D I sincerely hope that you will enjoy.

Woodkid - _Iron_

Five Finger Death Punch - _Coming Down_

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**Chapter 10**

Tris ran through the corridors for minutes, trying to be as discreet as she could. She held Eric's gun safely in her sweaty palm. Several times, she almost got caught by soldiers but managed to get away before they spotted her.

She gasped when she arrived in a corridor being patrolled by one dauntless woman. Then she cursed at herself because the woman had heard the gasp; while she could have just sneaked away silently, she was obliged to fight now.

The soldier was already positioning her rifle to shoot. Tris ducked away around the corner just in time before hearing the noises when the rifle fired. If she didn't stop her quickly, the whole compound would hear the fight; she had to act, and fast.

A few seconds later, she crouched and risked a glance when the woman stopped firing, seemingly recharging her weapon. Tris took the opportunity, stood up and shot at the woman's thigh with Eric's gun. Tris didn't even care that the woman had screamed; even if it could be heard by other soldiers, they had probably heard the gun-fires before.

She then ran to her, gun still pointed at the soldier. She surprised herself by reacting quickly enough to knock the soldier out with the back of the gun, without leaving her the time to attack back. Letting out a relieved breath, she wiped the sweat from her palms on her thighs. She bent to grab the unconscious woman by the ankles. She had to hide her and thankfully, the woman was petite and easy to drag so she didn't have to linger too long in the corridor.

After a moment, she reached a dead end dark enough to conceal the unconscious soldier -at least for a moment. She left her propped against the wall and prepared to go again. Tris considered taking the soldier's rifle but on a second thought, she decided it was too cumbersome to sneak with.

As she got closer to the Pit, she heard noises around a corner and slowly began to bend to peek.

Someone grabbed her arm roughly from behind and dragged her a few meters away, in the shadows. Her heart jumped painfully in her chest. She would have yelped if there wasn't another hand clamped on her mouth.

Eyes wide, her head whipped around to find Four standing behind her. _That's right_, Four was divergent too! Of course he was awake. Scowling, she moaned loudly incoherent words through his fingers to make him understand her annoyance at his behavior –she almost has a heart attack. She watched him bring one of his finger against his lips. He didn't let go of her until she nodded.

"What do you want Four?" she hissed, straightening her shirt roughly.

"You can't go there," he gestured to the Pit, "people are watching this place and others are going through it with a fine-tooth comb _for divergents_!"

"But I need to get out of here!"

"And so do I," he snapped back. "Just let me help you!"

She huffed and crossed her arms. Four was always right and it annoyed her. Maybe it was pride, she didn't know, but the last thing she wanted was to _again_ completely surrender to his help. She had to. She knew Four could be trusted, he already helped her survive.

"Then what do you suggest?" she asked slowly.

"Alright, the way I see it, we have two options. One: we can find a way out of the compound through a pathway I know that should be empty. It will be dangerous. But it should be okay as you trained the last few days with Eric."

"What?" Tris frowned, "How do you know we trained together?"

"Come on Tris, I work in the control room. I can see everything that happens here in Dauntless"

"Oh," Tris blushed when she realized that Four must have seen all the intimate moments between Eric and herself.

"Don't worry, there are no cameras in the apartments," Four said coldly, "if you have done anything that should stay _private_," he muttered the end of the sentence.

Tris scowled; Four was addressing to her as if he was reprimanding a child. Of course it was because of Eric. Tris hated that people hated him so much just by prejudice. And how the hell did he dare to tell her things like that? Whatever happened between Eric and herself had nothing to do with him; even if they only kissed. She blushed as she recalled their heated kiss. Her first kiss. It was perfect. And it was with Eric. No, she needed to focus.

"Okay and option 2?" she changed the subject

"We act as if we were soldiers under the serum and get out of here through the main entrance."

"We shouldn't even hesitate; let's just pretend we're under their control."

"But that's the thing. I don't know if you can do it. Pretending means that you must not react whatever happens, whoever they kill in front of your eyes, you simply cannot blow your cover. Your life depends on it."

Tris gulped.

"That's what I thought. Follow me, I know you can take the hard way out."

"Wait. What's the 'hard way out'?"

"Just follow me. And don't speak too loud," he hushed her.

Not with enthusiasm, she agreed to follow her former instructor.

"I don't like when you're being like this. Just tell me already."

To her surprised, he only grinned at her.

"Hey," she called him in a hushed tone, "did you have a strong headache or anything like that earlier?"

"I would have noticed I think." He quirked his eyebrows at her. "Why would you ask that?"

"Well, it's just that when I woke up, my head was hurting. It almost made me threw up." When he stared at her without answering anything, she quickly added, "I just thought that maybe -maybe it has something to do with being divergent, you know. But if nothing happened to you, then…"

"That's strange, I didn't get any headache."

"Then it was only me," she whispered as they got deeper into the maze of corridors. "I don't know how Eric did it, but he managed to-"

"Wait." Four's arm shot in front of her, successfully stopping her in her tracks. "Don't tell me you were with _Eric,_" he said in disbelief.

"Well, as a matter of fact, yes I was!" she retorted, feeling offended for Eric.

"Are you insane?" he hissed, it was obvious he wanted to yell; though he couldn't without risking to be spotted by dauntless men. "We are on the verge of dying because of the situation and you find the guts to go to him? He's on their side. He could have _killed_ you!"

"No."

"What?" Four was taken aback by Tris's stern and surprisingly calm tone.

"No. Eric would _never _attack me," she said harshly and took a step closer to Four. "If you must know, he even helped me. I don't know what he did but he took care of me and my headache is gone. Don't you dare saying he is going to _kill me_," she added as she dug her forefinger into his chest. "Now let's go."

Tris didn't know how Eric managed to do it but he made her braver than she usually was. Glaring and talking back to Four was not something easily done.

Four took a step back rubbing a hand against the sore spot on his chest. "Okay. Let's go. But you know what I think of Eric. Just be careful. Please."

Now Tris felt bad for talking harshly to Four. He was a friend, after all.

She placed a hand on his arm, "I'm sorry, Four. I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine," he cut her and a fake smile tucked the corners of his lips. "You're right, we should go now."

_Great_, Tris thought. Four successfully made her feel guilty. She hated this. And why was she even feeling guilty? She had all the rights to defend her b-. Her friend. Wait, was Eric even her friend? What was he to her?

They walked for another five minutes before he broke the tense silence.

"There's something I've been wanting to tell you." He whispered.

Tris gazed up at him to let him know she was listening.

"Tobias. My real name." He scratched his chin.

"Tobias?" she repeated.

"I don't particularly like this nickname; Four," he shrugged. "So I'd rather hear you calling me Tobias." Tris noticed that he seemed embarrassed, doing a show of looking everywhere but at her face.

"Okay, Tobias," she grinned sheepishly at him.

"That's better, Beatrice," he smiled.

She nudged him on the side, "Don't call me that! Tris is my name now."

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry… Beatrice." He stifled a laugh.

"Hey!" she punched him lightly, "I'm serious. It's Tris."

For a moment they forgot the seriousness of the situation and their laughs resonated down the stone corridor as they argued childishly over their names. They were lucky that no soldier was patrolling this part of the compound at this particular moment.

"How did you even manage to hide?" Tris suddenly asked him.

"Max assigned me to the control room, thinking I was under the serum. I had no choice but to obey. Problem is that there were other soldiers with me in the control room."

"But then how-"

"Dear Eric barged in and ordered all of us to find 'divergent rebels' hiding near the Pit. I saw the opportunity and got away."

"Will you please stop with Eric? He must have had a reason to-"

They arrived at a place that was familiar to Tris, she stopped in the middle of her sentence and looked up expectantly at Four. They stood at the entrance of a large room –_or more a large hole_, Tris thought- in which a wide net made of strong ropes was stretched. When she looked up, she saw the sky. Grey. The sky was paying tribute to the end of Abnegation, she thought dryly.

She focused back at the place where she first arrived at Dauntless.

"Why are we here?" she murmured.

"We're going out. Isn't it obvious?" Tobias smirked.

Tris looked up at him in disbelief, her mouth slightly open. He couldn't be serious. This room was a one way entrance. Or did he expect them to jump on the net like on a trampoline and reach the roof? By _jumping?_ No, Four couldn't be this stupid.

"Hey don't look at me like that." He cut her thoughts, "I know what I'm doing. Come on," he gestured to the back of the room where it was so shadowed she couldn't distinct the wall in detail.

When they reached it, Tris gasped.

"A ladder," she whispered.

Indeed there was a metallic ladder on the uneven brick wall that gave access to the roof. Although it didn't reach the ground where they stood; they had to climb at least 5 meters to reach it.

Tobias nodded. "You ready for this?"

It was her turn to nod.

"Follow my lead then."

He put his hands on a prominent brick which was higher than his head; he tested the solidity for a second, before pushing his weight upward and successfully settling his feet on other bricks. He repeated the process one more time before looking down a Tris to check if she was following.

"I'm okay," she grunted.

She was slowly climbing after him, using the same bricks he chose each time. Her muscles were beginning to ache but she braced herself; she had to make it. Tris wasn't unintelligent; she knew that Four reserved more of harder obstacles to overcome. Considering they made it to the roof, there was no stairs to get down to the street nor nearby roofs to jump onto. Just the train tracks… which were quite far from the ledge of the roof if she recalled correctly.

"Four," she groaned, "I get the feeling that I am going to want to kill you in a few moments."

She heard him chuckle in response as he reach the ladder and began to climb with ease.

"What? I thought you were Dauntless," he teased her. "If you are one, then you're going to _love_ what's next. And it's Tobias."

Tris didn't have strong enough muscles in her arms to push herself onto the ladder. She was forced to climb one more meter on the rock bricks so that she could easily place her feet on the lowest rung of the ladder. Climbing on the ladder was easier than climbing the wall, she found with relief.

When she reached the last rung, Tobias grabbed her arms and hoisted her on the roof.

"Okay," she winced. "What stupid idea are you going to suggest now."

Both of them stood at the very edge of the roof, looking towards the rusted metallic train tracks which were elevated at the same height of the building's ledge.

"We're going to jump." Tobias roughly clasped his hand on her shoulder. He laughed when her head whipped towards him and he caught sight of her wide fearful eyes.

He walked away, at the opposite ledge of the building and bent to lift something. He brought it to Tris.

"A rope?" she squeaked.

"Yes, I always knew I'd need it one day. Listen to me," his voice suddenly sounded serious. "I will jump first. Then you're going to attach yourself." He pushed the pile of thick ropes against her chest. "When it's done, you throw me the rope. I will secure it over there," he pointed at the rusted rails, "and it will be your turn to jump."

Then he looked at his watch. "Okay, we have 13 minutes before a train arrives and we might get crushed."

Tris gulped, "Okay, but don't you need a rope too?"

"I'll be okay."

He nodded tensely and then took a few steps away from the ledge. He cracked his neck, rolled his shoulders back, shook his feet and then, without warning, he sprinted to the ledge. Her breath caught in her throat. His right foot landed on the very ledge of the roof, pushed him far in the air. In the second when he was flying, his feet joined and he was able to land on the train tracks without toppling over with speed.

Tris was amazed. When he was in the air, it seemed as if the time was slowed. It wasn't a rushed jump. It was a gracious and calculated jump, defying gravity and completely in control.

Tobias slowly turned around and nodded. She let out a nervous laugh.

"Looks like I'm going to have fun." She muttered to herself before unrolling the rope, making it fall at her feet with a heavy thump. She took a portion between her hands and stretched it experimentally. It was elastic. An elastic rope.

"Come on!" Four hissed.

She briefly looked up at him and then wrapped one end of the rope around herself several times before tying it in a double knot. She prayed it was secure enough. She glanced back at the rails where Four stood. Maybe she wouldn't need the rope in the end. Maybe she could reach the rails.

"Tris." He held up his wrist and pointed at his watch, "9 minutes."

She gulped and nodded before checking again if the double knot was secured. Then she bent down, grabbed the rest of the rope. She threw it as far as she could.

To her relief, Four caught it without a problem. It took him a few seconds to tie his end of the rope around the metal railings.

He stood up, took a few steps to the left and gestured for her to jump.

Tris almost whimpered when she realized it was her turn to jump and her legs trembled violently for a second.

Cursing at herself, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, recalling how Eric had calmed her by showing her when to inhale and when to exhale the day he saved her life. She knew she couldn't back down now. She had to find her parents. Moreover, she had already jumped from high places before. She could do it, it was no big deal. After all, if she missed the railings, the rope was there to secure her. But what if the rope wasn't tied correctly, huh? Tris shook her head. She didn't have to think about that.

_Don't think, just jump._

She counted six steps away from the ledge.

_Don't think. Run and push yourself as far away as possible._

_Don't think, just jump!_

Deep breath.

She sprinted to the ledge of the roof. _Jump!_

A strangled cry caught in her throat. She could see the yellow metallic rails growing nearer and feel gravity tugging her body down. Her feet reached the rails. But she stumbled, unable to stop her speed and her body lurched forward. She was going fall over the rails. She didn't even have the time to scream, strong arms secured her backwards against a solid reassuring body. A noise between a sob and a laugh made her lips tremble and she let herself relax against Four's chest.

"It's okay," he chuckled.

"Four," she hissed after a few seconds, "don't you dare laugh at me! I could have died!"

"Of course not, you are tied to a rope with that huge knot you made. And _it's Tobias_."

"Tobias. I hate you."

"I am thrilled to know, but now we need to move before the train slices us in random bloody human meat parts."

"You're disgusting," she muttered as she removed his arms from around her waist and tried to ignore how wobbly her legs felt under herself. "Do you do this often?"

"What?"

"You know," she gestured to the building and then to the rails they were standing on. "Jumping around high places without security ropes."

"This, is called _parkour_," he said in the same tone he used as an instructor, only days ago. "Zeke and I do it around the city to overcome our fear. And it's not necessarily in high places that we run."

_Fear of what? _She wanted to ask, but then her eyes darted to his hands and noticed the way they shook while the rest of his body stood still on the rails.

"Fear of heights," she whispered.

He didn't answer but bent down to cut the rope around her waist. "We go there," he gestured with his chin at the direction where she remembered the train came from on the day of the Choosing Ceremony. Then he looked down at his watch. "And we need to hurry; 6 minutes. Ready to run?"

"Yes," she muttered.

And they ran. As fast as they could without falling. After 200 meters, Tobias slowed down, not too abruptly to avoid Tris running into him.

"We go down now," he instructed and began to climb down a thick post which had sills that could be used as rungs.

Tris was out of breath, but followed right after him anyway, without complaining. They couldn't risk lingering more on the rails, with the train coming in a few seconds.

Once back down on the ground, she let out a breath of relief. She couldn't understand how Tobias could do it even though he was afraid of heights. She didn't have any particular problem with heights and she found their little adventure already emotionally exhausting.

"I need to go to Abnegation," she cut the silence.

"Alright, I'll lead the way," he said as he removed dust from his trousers.

"Wait," she scowled, "you don't need to come with me. I just need to find my parents."

"Let's not have this conversation right now," he answered sternly. "I'm going, and that's final." This said, without a warning, Tobias ran down the street, knowing that Tris would have no choice but to follow him again.

"Alright." She mumbled under her breath before running after him.

They ran for several minutes, getting closer to Abnegation and Tris could feel a tension in her abdomen growing more uncomfortable. She prayed that her parents were safe and sound. Oh how she hoped that she wasn't too late.

"Shit!" Tobias suddenly cursed. He slowed until he was running side by side with Tris. "Soldiers behind us. We need to hurry, alright? Run as fast as you can!" He finished his sentence nearly shouting in her ears.

Afraid that soldiers could stop them in their course, she did as Tobias asked her to do; running as fast as she could. The only problem is that after only two minutes of sprinting at full speed, her strength was beginning to leave her; knowing this, she whimpered and her breathing became erratic. It was almost as if she could not control her legs like she wanted anymore, her rhythm became slower though she pushed harder forward, struggling to keep up the pace and Four was gaining more and more steps ahead of her. She had never run this fast in her life and it was so painful.

"Four!" she shouted, "Four, that's too fast for me, I- I can't keep up." Just as she finished her sentence, she tripped over a small brick of concrete and fell in the grass. She didn't have the strength to stand up. Something in her chest was hurting.

It hurt. It hurt like it never did before. She could taste blood in her mouth and she prayed her lungs were alright. Her hand clenched her chest right above her breasts trying to control the heaving and she could feel her heart beating hard and pumping against her hand. A wave of nausea made her cough and spit her saliva on the grass. There was no blood in the spits; maybe the taste was just a feeling, something she imagined. But it hurt. She couldn't control the whimpers that sounded so pathetic. Her breathing still erratic, she spit again.

"Tris!" Four yelled with urgency.

Before she even had the time to look up at Four, a loud noise thundered. And then shouts. When she looked up with wide eyes, she saw Four's body falling to the ground soundlessly. He wasn't moving, he wasn't sitting up. His body just lay still on the grass.

_Tobias! _She wanted to scream. But the sound would not come out of her opened mouth. Her whole body trembled in fear and realization in front of a friend's death. Stunned, she didn't notice the men running to her, nor the dog barking in front of her face. The only sound that came to her ears was the loud fire of the gun repeating over and over again in her head as she was seeing again and again Four falling.

Her forearms were being secured against her back, someone yanked her up and then she was being led away, her feet walking on their own.

When she snapped out of her daze she was terrified. They had killed Four. She screeched and drove her shoulders as hard as she could against the men who were holding her.

"No!" she yelled.

One soldier came in front of her holding up his hands as if trying to calm her down. She spat at him.

Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it was not; after all it was the only thing the remaining of her strength allowed her to do, the only act of defiance left to her.

The soldier she spat onto wiped his cheek, then grabbed her shoulders and drove his knee with force to her stomach.

She grunted and felt all her energy leaving her. Without the two other soldiers holding her arms, she would have fallen on the grass. Just like Tobias's body did.

_Mom, Dad, please be okay. Please._

She did not allow herself to cry, though. She swallowed and promised herself that on the first opportunity showing up, she would fight back and get the hell away from these crazy men.

:::::

Eric stood in the middle of his wrecked apartment. Shards of glass form the upside down table were scattered on the floor. Books were piled at the feet of the small library, some open, some with ripped pages and other having been thrown to the opposite wall of the room. The lamp on his bedside table was broken, half hanging on the ledge of the table.

He stood, chest heaving, fists clenched at his sides. Small cracking noises resonated from the shards of glass crushing under his heavy combat boots when he headed towards his closet.

One could have thought he would have ripped open the door of the closet by anger; yet he calmly opened it and stepped inside. He grabbed a bulletproof jacket that was hanging on the inside of the closet door and threw it on. Then he retrieved several weapons from the shelves which displayed all kind of them; several knives of different size that he tucked inside his boots, in his leg pockets, the smaller inside thick elastics on his forearms that kept them secured without harming his arm. He added two small guns in his waistband and a heavier electronic riffle which strap he threw over his shoulder.

Once he was satisfied with the weapons, he gathered all of his long black hair at the back of his head and tied them with an elastic band. Readjusting the strap of the riffle, he quietly closed the door of the closet and headed out of the upside down apartment, determination obvious in his grey eyes.

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**AN:** Give me your thoughts.

My dear beta was angry and happy at the same time.

There's not much of Eric in it. Though there's a lot of Tobias.

Tobias's fangirls, don't give up on the story now! ;)

Thank you so much, everyone who read or followed or favorited or reviewed. This is insane for me. 140 followers! Thank you!

I know I was supposed to study hard. That's why Chapter 11 will take probably longer than Chapter 10. I'm sorry.

**Remember, review! I need your reviews, I love your reviews**. **I LIVE for your reviews!** Okay?

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**Update (May 2nd):** Hey guys. I'm so tired of studying. Lucky for us, in about 10 days or so I'll be able to write again :) can't wait!

To "L": I wish you weren't a guest reader, so that I could chat with you ;) your reviews are really encouraging!


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Walking in the streets of Abnegation, Eric scared anyone who came across his path. With his determined and strong strides, his hair tied back and how heavily armed he was, even Max was a bit taken aback.

"What are you up to, boy?" he'd asked Eric, eyebrows raised.

"Nothing, just wanted to see how the mission is going here."

"Well, I didn't know you would be so into the mission. You can check on the soldiers up that neighborhood," Max pointed a street, "but then you head to Erudite. Jeanine wants you there, you didn't forgot now, did you?"

Eric shook his head in negation and then walked in the direction Max pointed, leaving the man dumbfounded. After all, Eric had always been a very polite soldier toward his superiors; Max had never seen him this tense and he looked like he could kill the first person who was unfortunate enough to annoy him.

Eric had decided to follow his original plan; which meant following Jeanine's orders. Now that Tris was truly gone, there was nothing he could do to help her anymore. He did not know where she was at the moment and could not afford to search thoroughly for her.

But maybe just taking a look in Abnegation would do no harm to his main mission. If he was lucky, Tris had already found and saved her parents and all three of them were hiding far away from here. So it was a relief, not seeing her or Andrew Prior among the kneeling Abnegation people in front of him.

Or among the dead bodies lying then and there.

_Don't hesitate to kill anyone causing you trouble. _That's what Jeanine had instructed everyone to do. _After all, the less Abnegation members, the better._

So no Tris in sight was a good thing. He'd just had to deal with her after the attack mission. Hopefully she didn't choose a hiding place too concealed because he planned on finding her later. Or maybe she would be the one to come to him after everything was finished. That would be extremely reckless, but knowing Tris, Eric knew that she would find him before he could.

Already forgetting his decision, Eric checked further in the streets to be sure she was not here. He then even disobeyed Max and took a quick look at the others neighborhoods.

He felt stupid doing this. There was so much Abnegation people, he could have missed her face or maybe her dead body was lying in a dark alley. It was foolish to have let her go alone. Even binding her to his couch would have been a better option.

But he couldn't have given up on the mission. He had worked for Jeanine for years and even if he didn't agree with her ideas, he had worked hard and had suffered too much to just throw everything away for Tris.

Readjusting the heavy rifle on his shoulder, Eric headed to the train tracks. It was time to go back to Erudite. His former faction.

He remembered the first time he met Jeanine. He was fourteen. The perfect Erudite schoolboy who always got excellent marks, was praised by all his teachers and every Erudite child was jealous of him.

But his life was far from perfect. The time spent at home was a torture.

That's why he studied so hard, stayed as long as allowed in the library.

His parents hated him. He didn't even know if they were capable of love. They didn't seem to like each other a bit and probably saw their marriage as a requirement to a normal social life.

They only talked to their son to ask him about school or to inform him his presence was needed at whatever gala.

So when Jeanine Matthews came to see him in person and promised him a better life, in glory and happiness, of course he wanted to believe her.

When he accepted Jeanine's proposition, she made him undergo an intensive 2 year-long training in secret, so that he would get the skills to pass Dauntless initiation and even better, rank first.

While every Erudite child attended conferences and private lessons after school, Eric went to Jeanine Matthew's private research center. It was a building of its own. Eric's parents believed he went there to participate in her new project to elaborate a mysterious serum.

They were delighted, not because they were proud of their son, but because it gave a brilliant and intelligent image to their family. They even started to smile to him and showed some affection during the galas.

In fact, Eric didn't work in a laboratory. Every evening he would head to the last floor of the building and train.

Running, body building, fighting, shooting, knife throwing, facing his fears in simulation and even some theory on the psychological state of mind of Dauntless.

A week before the Choosing Ceremony, his aptitude test gave Erudite.

Still an Erudite inside, but a true soldier on the outside.

Initiation wasn't even that hard and he made it to leadership –even though he ranked second.

Two years later and Jeanine's serum was finally ready and synthetized in thousands.

Eric sighed.

In a week he would be part of Jeanine's new government and live a pleasant life and be respected by the whole population of Chicago.

"Sir, aren't you getting off here?" a man suddenly spoke up.

Startled, Eric's gaze snapped to the open door. He was leaning in a train car and he could see Erudite's buildings through the door.

He nodded to the soldier and jumped.

He could not give up on this just for Tris. She wasn't worth four years of hard work, was she?

:::::

"How is he?" a man spoke softly.

"He'll live. I have tended to his leg already and his head is alright. It's up to him now," a woman dressed in grey answered as she pressed a small bag of ice against the head of the young man lying on the floor.

He had been laid on a small plaid that might have been purple a few years ago but was now a brownish pink. His body was partially covered by a smaller grey cloth, leaving only his right leg visible, his thigh wrapped in gauze.

"Is he even going to wake up one day?" the man sighed.

"I know he'll wake up. I hope for Marcus…" the woman trailed.

"Poor Marcus," the man agreed, "he lost his wife, and now that he could have reunited as a family once again with his son, the boy is injured and will probably never wake up."

"Don't be pessimistic," she gave him a little slap on the shoulder. "We need to believe in this boy."

She stroked the cheek of the latter in a motherly way.

"I don't know what the Dauntless make their children go through but he shouldn't have been shot, it's not fair. He's just a boy."

"When I found him I thought he was dead; his body was lying in the grass and he lost so much blood."

"Thank God he was only shot in the leg."

"Someone must have knocked him out. The bump on his head seems so painful."

"I wish I could take some of his pain away," the woman added.

The man took the pack of ice from her hand and settled it on the floor.

"Come Elisa darling, it's no good for you to stay here. I can see your eyes getting sadder with the minutes," he said while leading her away from the makeshift cot and down a staircase.

They arrived in a dark room where at least twenty Abnegation men and women were huddled together, but still far enough from touching each other. Elisa instantly let go of her husband's hand and they sat at a corner of the room.

"Where is Marcus?" she asked.

"Oh he said he wanted to make sure everyone is alright. He must be downstairs where we laid the other wounded."

"Always so selfless," she sighed, "even when his son is injured."

A boy also dressed in grey large clothes walked to them, "Can I join you, Sir, Madam?"

"Of course, boy! Don't stay alone," the man gestured for him to sit in front of them.

"My name is Harrison," the young man introduced himself. He was joyful when he spoke to the two adults, unlike most of the Abnegation children would have dared to be.

"I'm Richard and this is my wife Elisa."

"Thank you for letting me sit with you," he smiled.

"Where are your parents, Harrison?" Elisa asked.

"I don't know, madam."

"I'm deeply sorry to hear it. Please stay with us as long as you wish to."

The couple asked Harrison about school for a few minutes but then silence came back.

"When you were upstairs, I heard that Natalie Prior is wounded," Richard suddenly said.

"How?" Elisa startled.

"Well, she was the last one of us to find shelter in here. While we luckily didn't run into soldiers, she did. I overheard her conversation with Andrew. Says she wanted to save their daughter Beatrice but couldn't find her anywhere."

"That's awful. Their girl who transferred to Dauntless, right? But she would never attack her former faction!"

"Maybe Natalie thought the Dauntless soldiers forced her to come. We all saw there were Dauntless children among the soldiers."

"I don't understand why this is happening, Richard," her voice trembled.

Richard reached for her hand and squeezed it.

"Everything will be alright in the end."

"I hope so," she whispered.

"Can we play a game?" Harrison asked innocently and both of the adults laughed.

::::

Jeanine was looking down at her with an expression of pure disgust, as if she wasn't even human, as if she wasn't even worth of breathing the same air.

"You know, I wanted you for my next clinical research. Andrew would have loved seeing it," she smiled warmly at Tris. "But I changed my mind. I'll have Eric pick me a less filthy Divergent. And you're so agitated, a real animal," she stated as if she was complaining of dust on her neatly trimmed skirt.

"Kill her."

As soon as she said the words, Tris thrashed again to get out of the grasp of the two dauntless men that were holding her. Her heartbeat picked up so fast that it hurt in her chest. Her eyes wide in the realization that she was going to die. She couldn't. She couldn't die. Not now. Not when she didn't even know if her parents were alive. She didn't know if they were safe, she wanted to protect them. And what about Caleb? She still cared about him, no matter what he said. And. She wanted to see Eric one last time; she wanted to tell him that she truly regretted their argument. She should have admitted out loud that he held a special place in her heart. Because now he would never know.

But how was Eric going to be without her? He had no friends, there would be no one to _love _him, no one to believe in him and hope for a better Eric. She didn't want to leave him alone in his misery.

She wriggled her body in an attempt to free herself. She managed to elbow the man on her right in his ribs and he grunted though he did not loosened his hold.

Jeanine stepped closer to them but still out of reach of Tris's flying limbs. Her contained and peaceful appearance made an awful contrast with the agitated Tris.

"Take her away, I've seen enough of her. You," she glanced at one of the Dauntless men standing behind her, "help them. Get her to the lab 3; I'll send for someone to activate the machine."

_What machine_? Was Jeanine planning on torturing her before killing her? Or maybe the machine was to incinerate her body after she was killed.

"You bitch! You fucking coward!" Tris screamed. "I could beat you, I could rip you apart easily if you weren't hiding behind your minions!"

She had to get away before the third man came to help.

Couldn't anyone just come and save her?

She stomped on the feet of the same man she'd elbowed. His grip on her right arm loosened and she managed to crush her knuckles on his nose. He groaned.

That was the only thing she had the time to do for her defense. The man who still held her left arm grabbed her right one and forced both of them behind her back in brute force.

Tris screeched in pain.

"Eric, finally you're here," Jeanine's voice said with delight.

Tris froze. Her eyes shot to the door of Jeanine's office. She couldn't hold back a whimper.

There he stood.

Tears flowed in her eyes, blurring her vision. He came. He was going to save her.

"Eric," Tris cried. Finally everything was going to be alright. It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulder. And it felt good. It felt so good to rely on someone. She wanted to smile. In fact, maybe she gave a small laugh.

He turned his head toward her.

Face expressionless.

Eyes void of any emotion.

The laugh turned into a strangled sob.

Her eyes did not hide the horror she felt.

He wasn't going to do anything. Her shoulders shook as she looked at him. _Please_, her eyes said to him._ No. _The strength was leaving her.

"Have you not understood yet? Eric works for me. He's not here to save a mere initiate; there's no need to beg," she sighed.

These words deepened the wound in her heart.

"How pathetic. Take her, now," she ordered the soldiers.

While the man she hit held his nose to stop blood from spilling on the floor, the third one arrived and hit her quickly in the stomach.

The image of cold grey eyes imprinted on her retina.

It hurt. Her chest ached. Not because of the fast heartbeat or any bruise the soldiers could have caused but because of betrayal. And the loss of something she believed in so much. Her heart shattered.

And everything went black.

:::::

Cold.

That was the first thought that crossed her mind. The coldness of the surface she was laid on, giving her goose bumps on her arms.

She tried to move and felt the hardness of the floor.

She felt a dull pain on her temple and quickly brought her hand to her head in an attempt to feel it. But by doing so, her elbow hit something hard on her right.

She cursed.

A wall?

She opened her eyes and blinked a few times so that they could adjust to the brightness. Everything was so white.

As soon as she did, she panicked and her breathing came out in ragged pants.

She was trapped. In what seemed like a long glass coffin.

Tris jerked up but her head hit the roof of the box.

She had to get out of here.

She lifted her head again just enough to look and the end of the box where her feet were. There was no exit there. So she wriggled her body around to look at the other end of the tube, her eyes wide with hope. And swallowed a sob. It was all glass.

She could see that there was no chance of getting out but she lifted her arms anyway and pushed with all her might.

She whimpered. It was no use.

She let her fingers trail to the corners and where the screens of glass met. She pushed again. She pumped the glass with her fist. She turned around again and slid until her feet met the glass at the other end of the box. She parted her arms and placed her palms on either side of the box to block her body from sliding while she kicked.

She was trapped.

Suddenly, she heard a strange noise. It was coming from above. She looked up. There was a hole. A black hole as large as her fist. And the loud noise was coming out of it.

She saw it and didn't even have the time to react as it arrived too quickly.

Water poured out of it. Right on her forehead, the water attacked her eyes making them burn. She yelped and wriggled around again to avoid the stream of water from pouring directly in her eyes.

Another scene of her fear landscape was replaying. And no one was going to save her. Not even Eric who had been right there in front of her.

She ignored the lump in her throat that came when she started thinking about him. There was no time for that.

She looked around through the glass; the long box was in the middle of a white room, probably a lab. Lab 3, she remembered Jeanine ordering her men to take her there. She had mentioned a machine. This insane box was the machine. They planned on drowning her. Why? Couldn't they have just shot her? She sobbed.

Jeanine was a twisted and mad woman; if she picked this method to kill, it was surely because she had seen Tris's final test and was using irony to make her death even more painful and pathetic.

The water was filling the box at a steady pace. They were going to drown her _slowly_. Tris imagined Jeanine watching through cameras, laughing madly.

She pumped again against the glass. She couldn't give up.

For long minutes, enough time for the water to submerge her whole body, she hit the wall stubbornly ignoring the searing pain on her knuckles, even when the skin split and blood dripped, tainting the clear water into a pink cloud around her hands. She began to scream to find strength. But came the moment were there was too much water and her screams were making her choke. She had to close her mouth. Lifting her head, she took a deep breath to inhale as much oxygen as she could.

Her limbs were feeling light in the water. Maybe it was the time to accept her death. After all, death was an easy thing, just like Al died. Just like Four died.

She cried her last tears. She steered her last thoughts to her parents, dead or alive, she didn't know. She loved them. To Caleb, no matter what he did she forgave him. To Christina, Will, Uriah and-

No.

Not Eric.

She whimpered, exhaling some air and making bubbles, because she couldn't help herself from thinking about Eric even at her last moments. He betrayed her. She shouldn't think about him. But she did. Eric. She pictured his black hair. And the rare genuine smile of his, that he only made in front of her. Her chest ached. She didn't know if it came from the lack of oxygen or from Eric. But it ached.

The last few days of her life, she had attached herself to this man. Too much. She shouldn't have. It led her to no good. Hell, it killed her. And here she thought she actually meant something to him. Well, that's what she pushed herself to believe.

She closed her eyes and felt herself drifting apart from reality.

What a useless life.

In her sixteen years, she had managed to kill two people. Al and Tobias.

At least she wasn't given the time to kill her parents.

Maybe the world was better without her.

Strong hands gripped her shoulders and she was thrust into a sitting position.

Her eyes flew open, she coughed, her chest heaved from breathing the oxygen her body badly needed and every muscles of her body were tense.

_I am alive? How?_

Tris looked at her surroundings, trying to understand why she was breathing. She looked up. The roof of the glass box had been lifted. The flow of water was stopped and some was dripping from the box starting to make a small pool on the white tiled floor.

Then she caught sight of someone moving on her right.

She turned her head and gasped.

"Ssh. You need to keep quiet."

.

* * *

**AN: **Ahaa! That's an awful and evil cliffhanger. And here I am smiling madly.

Tell me what you think of this chapter :) It felt different, didn't it?

So yeah that was chapter 11. Not as long as the last chapters. Sorry it took me so long to update. I truly can't wait to hear -or read- your reaction!

Thank you (so)x10^100 very much you out there -yes, you- who read, reviewed, followed or favorited this fanfiction.

Also, for anyone who might be interested, I updated chapter 6 a few days ago. I know x) Instead of focusing on this chapter I thought back about the first training session Tris and Eric held together, and I could see the scene so clearly, I had to write it more in detail. And I feel this aspect lacks in my writing. Not enough details. Because I keep re-reading the first chapters and I keep adding sentences -and correcting some awful English mistakes I did not notice before. That's why I will also probably revise the whole story to correct the mistakes I can find and maybe add a few details then and there :)

.

And Na-tan, thanks for always reminding me to stop doubting. Maybe your comments aren't so biased. Hahaha. I can already hear you yelling at me.

.

_Now some guests reviewed and I want to thank them;_

_Leneah1: Thank you for reading. Oh and don't you apologize; I'm glad to know you like my story. I hope this chapter was to your expectation!_

_"L": Thank you again for reviewing! I'm so thrilled the last chapter kind of "captivated" you XD_


	13. Chapter 12

**AN: **Oh my God it's me! Oh my God the new chapter! It's finally here! Oh my God I took so much time! Oh my God you're gonna kill me!

Hahaha! Well I don't usually write any AN at the beginning of my chapters but this time I'm in a good mood so I wanted to write this silly AN that is probably already annoying you.

Do you guys know Ellie Goulding's Halcyon Days? It's my ritual for every summer. Since last year... so it's the second time I do it. But it's a ritual. Definitely.

Alright, alright! Just read the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 12**

"Eric, you took your time," Jeanine said as she walked around her desk and sat in the black leather chair.

"I went to Abnegation before coming here. I wanted to make sure nothing problematic had happened."

"How thoughtful of you," she said gently.

"Where are you taking the Stiff?"

"Oh I'm putting her in my new invention. It will make her drown. You must see the schemes of the machine, but later; simple but genius," she smiled.

Drown.

"Please take a seat," Jeanine gestured him to one of the chair in front of her desk. "I have a new task for you."

"I'd rather stand."

Surprisingly his voice sounded steady.

Tris will die in a few minutes. How many minutes have passed already? Shouldn't he be running after her? _Wait, that's not what I'm supposed to do._

"Sit," Jeanine's voice was suddenly lower. She was narrowing her eyes at Eric.

His thoughts were whirling in his head, he could not think clearly, he was… _scared. _His palms were sweaty and he was fighting the urge to attack the woman in front of him or dart away from this office and run to the lab where Jeanine put her new invention. _Which lab was it?_

But he knew one thing; he had to stay on the good side of this woman and avoid any suspicion.

So he sat.

"I apologize; I'm a bit tense with the attack. I've been waiting for this day for years."

"No worries," she smiled again.

That damn smile. It made her look so motherly.

And then she exposed him his new task. He knew it dealt with Divergents and research but he could not follow her words.

"Any questions?" she looked at him expectantly.

"No."

"Well then, let's not waste any time. You can go."

He stood up and walked to the door. Strangely, his head was now empty. No thoughts. No clear decisions.

He stopped. And turned to ask her one last question.

:::::

"Ssh. You need to keep quiet."

It seemed someone valued Tris's life.

She tried to move and and stand up but when she leaned on her hands, she almost toppled over the ledge of the glass box, the surface slippery because of the water. Strong arms caught her before she could. As soon as they encased her, she gripped them, not bothering if her nails were scraping his skin. Then her arms wrapped around his neck and she flung her legs over the ledge of the box in a haste to get out of this coffin.

Tris's clothes were sticking her skin because of the water and it made them heavier. Her hair was clamped on her neck. She was so cold.

She tightened her grip on his neck. Snaking an arm around her, he placed a hand on her ribs and the other on the back of her head to keep her close as she sobbed.

"It's okay now. I'm so sorry you had to go through this."

"Eric," she wailed.

"I'm here. I'm so sorry," even his voice sounded unsteady with emotions. He held her tight, whispering her soothing words and apologies and rubbing her arms when she shivered because of her wet skin and clothes.

But then Tris noticed something hard was digging her stomach; she glanced down through her tears and caught sight of Eric's electronic rifle, crushed between their bodies.

Suddenly she let go of him and shoved him away, almost slipping on the tiles of the ground because of her wet boots. She stared at him with wild eyes. When he made a step back toward her she held up a hand to silently ask him to stay away.

How could she know if he was trusty? He let Jeanine put her in the machine. He passively watched Jeanine's men take her to her death.

Still, he saved her. He came, in the end.

Tears rolled down her cheeks again; she knew she wanted to forgive him. It was no use trying to think clearly. He was in front of her. So close. At arms length. Oh how she needed him.

She swallowed trying to get rid of the lump in her throat.

"Can- can I trust you?" she whispered.

"Yes," Eric didn't hesitate to answer. "Come here."

Tris lunged back into his arms. Maybe it was a stupid decision but she didn't care, didn't want to think. After all, she had been on the verge of dying.

She held him as tightly as she could while her whole body shook in sobs. She cried even harder than before. Her movements were frantic as she lifted her arms and let her fingers trail along his cheeks and jaw.

When it seemed that she had rememorized his traits, she wailed and bowed her head, gripping his shoulders.

But he did not let her hide her face for too long; instead he clamped his warm hands on either side of her head, feeling her cheeks cold from the water. He looked straight into her eyes.

"You need to stay strong. It's not finished yet. We must run away."

She tried to shake her head in negation but he didn't let her and grabbed her chin to force her to look into his eyes, through her flowing tears.

"You _are _strong. Tris, you are brave and dauntless."

He waited and she did not shake her head this time. She stared back while she hiccuped.

"Now get a grip because we have to move our asses out of this fucking lab!"

His thumbs wiped away the tears staining her cheeks. Then he ran his hands through her hair to push away the strands of hair sticking because of the water.

"You're so cold," he said quietly.

He removed the large rifle from his shoulder, unscratched the straps of his bulletproof jacket.

"I'm sorry I don't have anything to keep you warm," he muttered as he passed the sleeveless bulletproof jacket on her shoulders and tightened the straps for her.

"But-" Tris began but was stopped with a hiccup.

"Don't even think about refusing the jacket or I knock you out cold and carry you myself," he cut her while rubbing on her arms in an attempt to warm her.

Then he tucked two knives in the jacket Tris was now wearing and handed her one gun.

"We have to get moving before they realize someone stopped the machine. I did disable the camera surveillance system in the corridor but it won't buy us too much time," he said as he put the rifle back on his shoulder.

He grabbed her shoulders and leaned close.

"Are you ready?"

Tris shook her head, "Even if we make it outside Erudite, where do we go?" her voice cracked.

"Well, there's no going back now. So Dauntless it is," Eric placed a hand on the back of her head, "let's go back home, Tris."

Then he walked to the door, "Stay behind me. Don't leave my side."

_Ever again._

.

Eric cracked open one of the double doors of lab 3. He peered outside to make sure no one was in the corridor and then he stepped forward, motioning Tris to follow him.

They walked down the blue corridor in silent steps; with Tris glancing backwards every few seconds to make sure no one would attack from behind.

She had no choice but to shut out her feelings, emotions and how cold she felt. It was time to think and act like a soldier. Their lives depended on her. Not only her life. But also Eric's; if she lacked concentration they could get caught and killed.

She sniffed, wiped the last tears away and gripped the small gun in her hand more firmly.

"This way," Eric whispered as he glanced at her over his shoulder, "we can't take the main entrance so we can just take the emergency staircase."

Tris nodded though his focus was already back in front of him. She was ready to strike at any person who would come across their path.

The emergency staircase Eric was talking about wasn't too far away; a minute later he stood in front of the double doors. They were reinforced doors, a silver metallic, contrasting with the blue of the walls and every other door they came across.

Seeing as Eric wasn't moving to open the door, Tris reached across him and made to pull down the metallic handle.

Eric grabbed her wrist in a swift movement.

"No!" he whispered urgently, "don't open the door. I was wrong; it's not a solution."

"Why?" she frowned in confusion. Their way-out was standing right in front of them. She was sure no one in the building was using these stairs.

"The alarm system is linked to these doors at each floor."

"What?"

"We are told to use the stairs only in real case of emergency. If anyone opens a door, the alarm rings and everyone has to evacuate."

"Then what do we do?" Tris was beginning to despair.

"I don't know!" Eric made to ruffle his hair as he was used to do whenever frustrated but he found them tightly tied back and it frustrated him even more.

Suddenly the sound of steps resonated from an adjacent corridor.

Eric's pulse fastened; someone was coming, they couldn't be seen. He didn't say a word as he took Tris's hand and dragged her further down the corridor and then to a door without a handle that he pushed open.

Tris barely had the time to see the symbol of the men's restroom, she was already inside.

It didn't smell bad; it smelled of cleaning product, so she wasn't disgusted when Eric led her to a stall and locked the door behind them.

She took a look at the stall as she tried to calm her heaving chest and then leaned against a wall.

They heard the hinges creaking signaling that the person –a man, entered the restroom too and their eyes locked.

They continued to stare at each other's eyes when the man slammed the door of the stall right behind the wall Tris was leaned against. She jumped and began to breathe too fast and too loudly.

Eric held her gaze, he tried to appear calm and pulled a bit at the strap of his rifle so that it was now hanging at his side instead of his stomach. He gently pulled her against his body. His arm held her there. It was his way to calm her. They could feel the heartbeat of the other.

Slowly Tris's breathing calmed as she concentrated on Eric's. She breathed in when he did and breathed out when he did.

Then she stepped back; just enough to see his face.

For the first time since he saved her, she actually took the time to look at him. Looking at him procured her so much warmth. She found him very handsome at the moment though most girls wouldn't.

He had tied back his hair; she noticed, and placed her hands on either side of his head to feel it. She liked him like that. He looked different. And he hadn't shaved so he looked more mature. She sometimes forgot that he was only eighteen.

The toilet of the stall behind Tris flushed. She gripped Eric's hands while they waited.

They heard the door opening. The man washed his hands and went out of the restrooms.

The pair sighed at the same time.

"No one usually uses these toilets, sorry it frightened you."

"It's okay. We're together, it kind of soothes me," Tris murmured as a faint blush tainted her cheeks.

Eric looked away. He shouldn't get mushy, it wasn't like him and he had to focus.

Suddenly Tris was struck with an idea.

"Wait, Eric!" she whispered urgently, "most of them don't know yet you're not on their side, right?"

Eric turned to listen.

"We could use that," she continued, "I'm your prisoner and you've been ordered to take me to someplace. And- and I hide my weapons and you manhandle me."

"It'd be taking a risk."

He seemed to ponder the idea for a minute.

"But we may have no other choice."

He nodded, "Let's do this. But once we're far enough from Erudite you don't need to be my captive; they don't know you and you're dressed dauntless. You'll just look like a soldier walking beside a dauntless leader."

"Okay."

"For the time being, hide your weapons. You should," he paused hesitantly, "um, put the bullet proof jacket under your shirt."

"What?" she blushed, "I'll just give it back to you."

"No, I want you to be safe."

"I'm not taking off my shirt!"

"Come on don't waste time."

"Eric!"

He did not listen to her; instead he began to unstrap the bulletproof jacket and forcefully took it from her shoulders.

"Remove your shirt. You have a bra covering your chest; I won't see anything."

"Just keep the jacket!" Tris protested.

When he didn't react she tried, "And why should I be the one safely protected by the jacket?"

"Because I've decided. And they're more likely to shoot you, not me."

"But-"

He looked at her sternly making her understand he would not comply. She couldn't believe that they were fighting over something this stupid in the middle of enemy territory just after he'd saved her from her death.

"For fuck's sake," she muttered before removing her shirt.

"Bad language, Stiff," he smirked her. Oh, she had missed that smirk.

She was indeed wearing sports bra under the shirt and it was covering most of her upper chest. Still she blushed quite furiously.

Eric did not make any comment nor stared; understanding her shyness, though it was not uncommon to see dauntless women training in sports bra.

He secured the jacket on her torso before letting her put the black shirt over it. Thankfully it was the shirt Eric had lent her so it was quite large and did not let show anything under it.

"That was unnecessary," Tris murmured as she glared at him.

"Come on, your gun."

He watched as she tucked it in the waistband of her pants covered by the long shirt and then unlocked the door of the stall.

"Alright, now join your hands at your back," Eric instructed just before they left the restroom.

She did as asked and he held both of her wrists in one hand.

"Am I hurting you?" he worried.

"I'm fine," she answered though his grip was indeed hurting her. But she thought it needed to look real and if it didn't hurt a little then it would most likely look like they were simply holding hands.

Eric led her to several blue corridors before they reached a big hall which had a wall completely made of window glass revealing the city and the rising sun in the horizon.

"It's already morning," she murmured.

_Of course_. Though it was only a few hours ago, it seemed to Tris that an eternity had passed since the moment she had had her throbbing headache; when Eric saved her. Was he always saving her? Weeks ago from the Chasm, earlier this night from the serum and just now from Jeanine.

"Try to look like you're struggling," Eric whispered.

Escalators were running silently, in the middle of the hall. Only a few Erudite scientists dressed in white lab coats or in neat blue suits were passing by. It was very early to wander in the research center but they were certainly working for the attack on Abnegation. Some of them ignored the pair but others did look interested in the petite girl dragged by a dauntless leader.

They needed to go faster.

"Move," Eric raised his voice before pushing her forward. Had her wrists not been held by Eric, she would have fallen forward.

Tris changed her expression to pure loathing and glared back at Eric. She hoped it made the scene look more real.

She was slightly trembling and she knew he could feel it. If by any chance Jeanine or the men who were in her office earlier, happened to pass by, it was their end. They may not be killed at first sight but seeing that Tris was alive would surely raise some suspicions on Eric.

Going down the escalator, Tris discovered that they had three more to take to reach ground floor. It seemed to her that the escalator was moving very slowly.

"No elevator?" she whispered to Eric, careful not to move her lips too much.

"It's safer this way," he whispered back, "it'd be easier to escape if we're caught now."

Her hands were getting moist and she closed them into fists.

Only two escalators left.

As they descended, a researcher in a white lab coat was taking the escalator up on their left. He was frowning at some notes on a clipboard and didn't even bother to look up.

One escalator left.

Tris felt her heart jolt in her chest. Through the entrance wall made of glass, she saw about ten dauntless soldiers posted. It was now that their scene needed to look as real as possible.

"Struggle," Eric whispered, "you can look scared, it's even better."

She tried her best when they reached ground floor. As they headed to the glass doors, she tugged at her arms, giving the impression that she wanted to free them just like she did earlier when the other soldiers were holding her captive.

Eric pushed her forward again resulting in making her stumble and she let out a small yelp.

They passed the glass doors and the men without a problem. All of them were under the serum; it could be spotted easily as their gaze was passive and most of them stood still while others were walking back and forth around the building.

They probably recognized Eric as a leader even through the simulation because none of them made to question him.

It was almost too easy, Tris thought.

They walked down a large path made of concrete. The main gates of the compound were getting closer.

Only a few meters left and they were officially out of Erudite.

They were finally passing the gates where they found dauntless soldiers were also posted.

"Freeze!" a man shouted at them from behind.

Her heart jumped painfully.

Eric turned, dragging Tris along with him, careful to tighten his grip on her wrists for it to look more real. Tris couldn't hide the fear in her eyes but he did manage to look very annoyed and angry at the lone soldier who dared to point his gun at them. The others weren't moving to stop them. They just stared passively.

And Tris whimpered as she recognized him as the soldier she had punched on the nose. Eric shook her harshly.

"Shut up, you," he snarled at Tris.

"Eric? S-Sir?" the man stammered when he recognized one of his leaders.

"Lower your weapon." Eric ordered in a deathly tone. Anyone would have dropped their weapon under Eric's menacing gaze but the soldier appeared to be braver than the common. He stood his ground and still held his gun high though he pointed it to Tris.

"But Sir, she should be dead. Mrs Matthews ordered me to put her in the machine earlier."

"And why the fuck should I care about that?" Eric asked him with a smile but it sounded even more frightening.

"But Mrs Matthews did-"

"I am your leader!" Eric cut him with authority and even Tris jumped at this, "I said, lower your weapon!"

"Yes Sir!" the man shouted back as he put his gun back in its case and stood at attention.

"To Abnegation. Now! Maybe you'll be useful there." Eric ordered him.

"Yes Sir!" he shouted again before giving a salute and jogging out of Erudite, towards the train tracks.

As soon as he was far away, Tris sighed heavily and her shoulders dropped. She had been standing stiffly for the whole conversation.

Eric pushed her back on their tracks and she stumbled again.

"We should go before he decides to talk to someone about it or before we run into someone else," Eric said a few meters later. He kept his gaze on the soldier who was preparing himself to jump on the next train.

They reached the train tracks and and stopped near the reckless soldier who stood at attention when he heard them approaching.

"We're getting in," Eric snapped at Tris when the three of them heard the train coming, "can you jump in on your own or should I throw you inside?" he laughed nastily. "Maybe I should just drop you under the train, uh, what do you say, bitch?"

"Let go of me." she croaked out as she tugged again at her arms.

They watched the soldier running along the train and Eric waited until he was inside.

"Let's get in now," he let go of Tris's arms and gently pushed on her back so that they could run at the same pace.

When he found they were fast enough, he snaked an arm around her waist and lifted her up with him as he jumped in a car with the help of his other arm.

The car was empty. He leaned against the wall which faced the open door and kept Tris against his side.

This time he wasn't letting go of her when she wanted to stare at his eyes; unlike the first time they jumped in a train together. This time she was allowed.

She pushed back the long strands of hair that came out of his ponytail, preventing her from looking at him.

He stared back for what seemed a long time but then something snapped in his eyes and he gently grabbed her forearms.

"Are you hurt?" he inquired as he inspected them.

"No, I'm fine."

"It's all red. I'm so sorry. I'm-"

"But we made it," she cut him with a small smile.

His eyes snapped back to hers, "Yes," he said in a low voice and closed his eyes, "yes we did."

"You keep saving me. It's not fair," she added with a nervous laugh.

Eric avoided her gaze. It was true; he saved her several times. But what she didn't realize is that in a way she had just saved him too. Who knew what he would have become if Tris didn't step in his life? How was he going to live with himself if he kept blandly obeying Jeanine and being responsible of countless more deaths of innocent people.

"I couldn't let you die," he said, staring at the abandoned buildings passing by.

Yes, he saved her, and he was going to save as much people as possible in his power. He had to stop this madness. More Abnegation members were dying at this very moment.

"But you said you worked hard for-"

"Shush," he pulled her against his chest, "Can't you just thank me and shut up? I'm not regretting my choice."

She didn't answer. She leaned against him and stared at the passing landscape through the windows.

After a moment, she broke the silence, "I like your hair like that," she told him and then leaned her cheek against him. She felt his chest rumble as he laughed quietly.

:::::

"Eric, what-"

"We're heading straight to the control room," he cut her.

Both of them were preparing to jump from the train as they leaned outside the door of the car to watch the nearing roof.

They jumped at the same time. Eric landed further than Tris but she still jumped a fair distance and didn't trip.

"I'm going down first," Eric said decidedly and didn't waste time; he jumped in the hole to the net at the bottom.

"Ok, I guess," Tris muttered. She heard him hit the net and waited a few seconds for him to clear the way.

A rush of adrenaline was numbing the tip of her fingers and was making them tremble. She jumped before her brain could start thinking too much about the danger and the safety of such a jump.

She fell in the familiar bouncing of the net and took the hand Eric was already holding out to her.

She didn't like being in this room. It reminded her of Four and now wasn't the time to recall the tragic moment his body hit the ground. _Shit_. She could just see it over again. He was-

"You okay?" Eric cut her thoughts and she jumped slightly.

"Yes," she cleared her throat, "yes. I'm fine."

He looked at her suspiciously but let it go and nodded.

"Let's go then. No one should stop us on the way; they respond to me and the other leaders who are at Abnegation right now."

Indeed, no one stopped them as they ran to the control room. Tris was out of breath when Eric opened the door and marched to the computers, ignoring the two men posted on each side of the door.

"Move," he ordered to the soldier who was sitting in front of the screens. So they were three; and none made to stop them but they did stare, as if they were waiting for another command, Tris observed.

Eric took his seat while she stopped behind his chair, leaned her hands on her knees and gradually regained a normal breathing. Eric didn't even look a bit breathless.

"Alright, before I destroy the program," he said as his fingers drummed on the screen, typing in codes that Tris couldn't understand, "I will retreat our forces. Make them come back here."

Tris didn't answer; she hadn't even thought about that. It was a good idea to gather everyone.

"But shouldn't we let a few soldiers there to help the wounded?" she asked the question as she thought it.

Eric stopped typing, and spoke lowly, "There are no wounded. If they had to use their guns, the soldiers were ordered to kill, not injure."

Tris turned her head away and swore. At the same time, the three soldiers walked out of the control room, without a word.

"I know," Eric spoke up, "I know it's hard to take. But we're acting now. I've already stopped the killing. Everyone is coming back to the Pit as we speak."

"Thank you," Tris whispered.

"When everything we'll be sorted, I can send our men back there to help clear the bodies. If they're okay with it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, that I'll probably have no authority on anyone there. After what I've done-" Eric trailed in a hushed voice.

"Don't say that. You've saved them!" Tris gripped his shoulder.

"We'll see," his shoulders slumped forward, "we wait now."

They waited. After a few moment, Tris couldn't bear to stand still anymore, she walked back and forth behind Eric's chair.

"They're in."

Tris startled and hastily joined Eric in front of the screens.

"What do we do now?"

"I'm wiping out the program."

Tris's heart pumped loudly in her chest. It was over.

"Done," he muttered and stood up.

Eric massaged his temples. He looked so exhausted; she wished she could take some of his pain away. She knew it meant a big deal to him; betraying Erudite.

"Thank you," she offered him a tentative smile.

"I-" he began but looked away.

Tris stepped closer to him.

"What is it?" she asked gently as she took his hand.

"Everyone is back now. I'll have to talk to them," his eyes locked on hers, "They'll kill me."

.

* * *

**AN:** Why do I ask for reviews every chapter? Isn't it annoying to you guys? I'm not gonna ask this time. But just know that I love reviews. That way I'm asking for reviews implicitly. I'm so smart I should be in Erudite.

Special thanks to **jayy9luv** for being the 100th "favoriter" and **lowell** for being the 200th follower! :D I'm so happy! 200 people are following the story. 200 people!

I also wanted to say that I regret not responding to the last reviews. I usually do respond so I'll make sure not to forget any this time :)

And another big thank you "L" ;)

Oh! Also I've been working on a new fanfiction; Eric/OC this time! I'm so excited about it because I've worked on the plot with my friend Na-tan! I'll write it seriously in a few months, probably. It won't be a T but an M.

I haven't edited the first chapters of Unexpected yet but I'll definitely do it when this fanfiction will be completed. Another three chapters and it's over!


	14. Chapter 13

**AN:** Salut tout le monde! Hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

"They'll kill me."

"Eric, I won't let them do anything to you!" Tris suddenly raised her voice.

She knew she sounded stupid. What could a sixteen-year-old-small girl possibly do to protect Eric? But she couldn't bear the thought of someone wanting to kill him. That was just unfair. He had just saved them. Saved them from killing innocent people, saved them from the nightmares that they would have had from the unwanted blood-bath.

Then realization dawned upon her. They wouldn't care. It didn't matter that Eric had saved them because he had been with the enemy when it had all started.

And Eric had always been hated by dauntless.

Tris looked at her feet; maybe they could run away.

Eric watched her face and it was as if he had heard her thoughts, "See?" he asked, "I'm dead."

"We'll sort it," her voice sounded uncertain, "right?"

Eric avoided the question and closed the distance between them to embrace her in a hug.

"Will we ever have a moment of peace?" Tris asked quietly as she played with the tip of his long ponytail.

"'Course," he whispered but even himself could hear how false he sounded.

Tris leaned back to look at his face and suddenly had the urge to kiss him. But she couldn't dare. Of course not, she was a _Stiff_, even Eric called her that. Then she was angry with herself. Why were such simple things that hard to do for her? She could do it. She desperately needed it. And she had nothing to lose.

Fortunately for her, Eric decided to kiss her before her head could explode from the inner rant.

Placing a hand at the back of her head, he leaned in and tasted her lips with a slow peck.

And that was plenty enough for Tris. It had just proved that they had indeed something more than a strange friendship. She smiled at him.

And Tris was proud with herself, it was stupid, but she didn't blush at all, her cheeks didn't heat up when he kissed her. She called it improvement. She was so content with herself that it even pushed her to stand on the tip of her toes and kiss him back quickly. It was his turn to smile.

He gently bumped his forehead against hers, and then, hand in hand, they walked out of the room.

.

A loud chattering noise was coming from the Pit. Every dauntless was agitated. After all, they were left in the incomprehension; they were all gathered here with one leader, Raze, who was clueless too.

Raze was one of the five leaders of Dauntless; he was also the only one who didn't take part in the alliance with Erudite, the only leader who had been under the serum.

"Eric!" he called and made his way to the front of the crowd, when he caught sight of him walking down the stairs to the Pit. He was followed by a small girl who reminded him of someone.

When Raze stood right before the pair, he recognized the girl; she was the transfer who ranked first at initiation. What was she doing with Eric?

Tris frowned at the man who walked right up to Eric. He looked familiar. He was well toned, more than well, he was very muscular and his tight tank top didn't do much to hide the muscles nor the tattoos covering his arms. He even had tattoos on his shaved skull. But Tris found her gaze more attracted to the huge ear gauges than the tattoos.

"What is the meaning of this? Where are the other leaders?" he asked in a low voice so that no one from the crowd could hear.

He was one of the five leaders! She had seen him in the cafeteria before.

Eric answered something in a voice even lower; Tris couldn't hear anymore what they were saying and she stepped back to give them more privacy. It looked like they were arguing. The leader had an angry scowl on his face.

She could understand why; he was a leader and he didn't even know that the other leaders were conspiring with Erudite and worse, they put him under the serum.

The leader now looked like he wanted to punch Eric; but instead he clenched his fists, grunted and turned away from Eric.

"Listen up!" Eric roared to the chattering crowd.

Tris jumped. She had forgotten they were even there. And now she felt small, standing alone with Eric and the other leader in front of the huge mass of people. She spotted Christina's face, she was looking right back, glaring holes. Tris scowled, taken aback; it wasn't like Christina to look at her with that much _hate._

Her gaze drifted to Christina's left and she spotted Will. He made a small wave with his hand and she smiled tensely in response. At least she had a friend who acknowledged her. Where was Uriah?

The chattering slowly faded; they had a sort of organization now that they recognized two of their leaders standing in front of them.

"Listen up!

You mustn't understand why you're all gathered here. You mustn't remember how you ended up here.

I'll tell you what happened. You were all injected a serum yesterday; do you remember?

This serum put you under a simulation for the past couple of hours. You don't remember but the simulation sent you to Abnegation and you were ordered to slaughter innocent people out there."

"This shit happened because Max, Scar and Edsel made a secret alliance with Jeanine Matthews from Erudite. Yes. Jeanine wants to govern, she wants to destroy Abnegation. And she has used you! You mustn't range yourself with Erudite! They used your bodies to murder. An act that they couldn't do for themselves."

"Tris and I have stopped the attack and we called you back here through the simulation. And then we destroyed the program."

"There is also something that you ought to know. I worked with Jeanine. I was part of that alliance with Max and Jeanine. That's why I know all of this. That's why I wasn't under the sim unlike Raze here. For that I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry I was with the enemy. I'm sorry I betrayed our faction."

He waited.

"That's all," and then he spoke to Raze, "you have to talk to them. You have to tell them to be prepared, we don't know what Jeanine and Max are going to do now."

But Raze didn't have the time to speak, the crowd woke up.

"And how do we know he's telling us the truth?" a woman yelled.

"Because I was here the whole time," Tris suddenly spoke up. She regretted her initiative immediately, a blush heated her cheeks and neck; everyone was now looking at her.

"What says she's not under a serum right now?"

"Yeah"

"That's right!"

"Eric is probably controlling the girl!"

"He must be controlling Raze too!"

"We're not letting you fool us one more time!"

Tris stared at them disbelievingly, how could they make up such a story? Eric had just thoroughly explained everything! And she felt it was like first day of initiation all over again and like each time there had been a gathering in Dauntless; all they knew to do was shouting without thinking.

"I'm Divergent! He can't control me!" she found herself yelling back at the crowd. Indeed, Eric did make her braver than she usually was.

Whispers spread among the mass gathered in the Pit.

"Aren't divergents murderer?" someone shouted.

"They are. I heard this story about-"

"Shut the fuck up. I'm Divergent too," Uriah yelled as he marched to the front of the crowd and came to stand beside Tris.

Her jaw dropped; _Uriah_ was divergent? It was a huge revelation to her but at the moment, Tris was so grateful he had spoken up. But apparently it wasn't enough for them; everyone was back to speaking at the same time and she looked hopelessly at Eric. When she turned her gaze back to the crowd, she saw a lean woman make her way to the front. It was Tori.

"Divergents," Tori shouted to gain the attention of the group, "are people whose minds are different from the common. They're not _murderers_, they just react differently from us to the serum."

No one found anything to say against Tori.

"Eric is with us. You have to trust him," Tris pleaded as her eyes swept on everyone.

Tori stepped closer to Tris and placed a hand on her shoulder to show everyone that she believed her.

"I believe you," a male voice said over the silence. It was Zeke, he came to stand next to his little brother and was soon followed by the supportive shouts of several of his friends.

Tris's eyes settled on Christina who was scowling directly at her. Apparently, Tris thought, her chest heavy with disappointment, her _best friend_ wasn't trusting a 'mad man' like Eric until the end. When Christina noticed that Tris was looking back at her, she glared, crossed her arms over her chest and refused to step forward.

Tris quickly looked away, she could not believe it. Someone suddenly placed a hand on her back. She startled and glanced at Eric. He had seen the interaction between her and Christina; she watched as he sucked at his lip piercing in worry. Tris tried to reassure him with a sad smile.

Raze placed a hand on his shoulder, taking his attention away from Tris and whispered him something inaudible to her. They talked in hushed tones for a minute.

The Pit was once again in silence and Eric chose this moment to speak up again.

"We have nothing to fear. We are home, we have the weaponry, we are soldiers and this is a fortress. They can't do anything to us."

"We need three new leaders to organize ourselves and prepare us for an offensive," Raze addressed to the Dauntless for the first time, "Max, Edsel and Scar are with Jeanine."

"Tori!"

Raze held up a hand and spoke up again, "According to our traditions, the current leaders are the ones to choose the new ones and they are to be chosen among the best ranked initiates."

"Then pick Four!"

"Yeah he was first in his year."

"Where is he?"

Tris looked as pale as a ghost at the mention of the friend she had watched being shot.

"Quiet!" Eric yelled.

"Eric and I will be holding a meeting right now and we will then expose you the names of your new leaders. Any opposition in our choices should be made then," he turned back to Eric, "let's go to the meeting room."

Eric nodded at Raze but then he glanced at Tris. Her hand immediately grasped his wrist. She looked at him with wide eyes and his own softened.

"I won't be long. Can you wait for me?" he gently whispered.

She nodded her head reluctantly.

"Uriah," Eric called and motioned for him to stand near enough so that no one else could hear, "would you mind staying with Tris? I don't want her to be alone."

"Not a problem, man," he smiled cheekily and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

She let go of Eric's wrist. She was ashamed at her behavior, acting like a child.

"Thanks. I'll come find you guys later," he clasped a hand on Uriah's shoulder as a thank you and goodbye gesture though his eyes stayed locked with Tris's the whole time.

He then followed Raze, who was walking outside the Pit.

"Want to go to our special place?" Uriah smiled at Tris.

"What place?"

"You know, the corridor we always end up to when we're together."

"Oh."

"It's okay with you?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, let's go."

Uriah was being so kind with her, she couldn't help the smile that crept up; and it was obvious that he was trying to make her laugh. When they finally sat at their special place, Uriah had told her at least five jokes and had poked her on the side twice.

They were sitting side by side; Uriah had purposefully scooted close enough so that they shoulders where touching.

"Hey what's going on between you and Eric?" he smirked at her, "you guys seem pretty close," he wiggled his eyebrows and finally managed to make her laugh.

"I'm not sure," she said quietly.

"Why is that?"

"We-" she started but couldn't find the courage to speak about their intimacy so openly.

"Tris you know you can talk to me, alright? I promise I won't make a bad joke about Stiffs."

She laughed again; it felt good to be at last peaceful with a friend.

"We kissed. Twice," she felt herself blush and waited for a nasty comment about Eric but then realized that Uriah wouldn't because he was so attentive with her.

"What were your test results?" she blurted out.

"Dauntless and Amity," he didn't hesitate to answer, "I know it's contradictory, but I swear I got the two."

She laughed, "Oh I believe you." Of course; it explained why Uriah was such a kind and extrovert friend.

"What about you?"

"Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite."

"Ha! So you're a Stiff!" he said and it earned him a punch on the side, "sorry! No Stiffs jokes."

"So you and Eric are going out?" he spoke up again.

"I don't know."

"Well, he seemed very-" he searched for the word, "protective of you."

She blushed again.

"I don't like to talk about it but, you know, I guess I can with you," he scratched his head, "I kind of like this girl."

"Marlene?"

"Oh shit. Am I that obvious?" he looked horrified for a second.

"No don't worry. But Lynn must have noticed, I think."

"Oh," he frowned, "if that's the case, I'm screwed. Screwed by a huge screwdriver."

Tris didn't bother to laugh at the lame joke; "why?"

"Shauna says Lynn fancies Marlene."

"Oh."

"Yeah," he sighed.

Tris didn't know what to answer; a feeling of guilt that she knew too well was beginning to creep up again. She felt that it was wrong to talk about such random subjects while she should grieve Four and while she should think about her parents. She didn't even know if they were alive.

"Trish?"

"um?"

"I know something's bothering you. And I'm not asking you to tell me what, alright? Just know that I'm here with you," he let his head drop on top of hers, "and you know, I think you'd feel better if you could talk to someone about it."

And single drop rolled down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away.

"Do me a favor?" he asked quietly, "At least talk to Eric?"

He felt Tris nod under his temple and sighed in relief.

"Trust me, you'll feel better."

They stayed in this position for what felt forever and Uriah was dozing on top of Tris's head. But she wasn't annoyed; on the contrary, she was thankful for his presence.

:::::

"Uriah," Tris whispered and his head jerked against the wall, "Eric's here."

"Oh! I'll just leave you guys then," he scrambled to his feet and stretched his sore muscles, "I'll see you guys later."

"Thank you," Eric nodded.

Uriah smiled brightly; he had always known that Eric would one day talk to him civilly.

"Hey Trish, don't forget your promise," he added and walked away.

Eric sat down beside her and pulled impatiently at his hair tie. "I hate tying my hair," he grumbled.

He had his hair tied in this tight ponytail since the night before and it hurt his scalp like a bitch. He massaged it and sighed in relief when Tris smoothed down his hair; it felt really good to have it back down.

Their position with Tris half leaning on him and touching his hair reminded him of that time when they sat just like this in the dark corridor and he was drunk. Drunk but not unaware of all his actions.

"So what was this promise he was talking about?" Eric asked and turned his head toward her.

"Oh," Tris leaned back against the wall, "he- he said I should talk to you."

"Talk to me?"

"Yes," she whispered.

Eric watched as she stared into his eyes and her face slowly contorted into an expression of sadness. Her gaze dropped from his eyes, her chin trembled and she bit at her lower lip to prevent herself from crying. He knew it; she was trying not to cry.

He cupped her cheeks and she looked back at his eyes. And that was it. She let go of her lip and her shoulders shook as she silently cried.

He didn't ask her to hold back the tears, nor did he felt annoyed by the fact that she was crying. He understood.

Eric reached out under her knees and behind her shoulders and lifted her so that she was nestled against him. He hugged her tightly and let her wet his shoulder.

Back in the lab, he had asked her to stop crying and to stay strong but now it was okay to let go of the tension.

"I'm here," he murmured, "I'm here. Tris, you've been very strong."

She said something in a weak voice but it was muffled by his shirt and he didn't want to rush her by asking her repeat. So he waited.

And when she was calm again, her head tucked under his jaw, he kissed the top of her head and wiped away her tears.

He heard her inhale heavily and she supported herself on his shoulder so that she was facing him, still on his lap.

"I-" she tried to speak but was interrupted by a hiccup, "I don't know how to feel."

He didn't understand what she meant by it; and again, didn't ask her anything, it was her moment.

"I don't know if my parents are alive. Don't know where they are," she shook her head and Eric calmly wiped the new tears.

"And my brother. I don't know if he was part of the attack. And Four was shot in front of me. Everything is so fucked up."

She cried again and Eric didn't know what to think. _Four? Dead? _For him it was impossible. Four would always be his rival, he would always be there. There was no way that he was- _dead_.

"And I don't know what to think. Why am I the one alive? I almost died several times since yesterday and why am I still breathing? My parents could be dead. I don't deserve to-"

She couldn't finish her sentence; her voice was taken over by strong sobs.

"And I am so _weak._ I am always crying!" she wailed as her shoulders shook, "I want to be strong. I want to help you. But you're always the one to save me. And I haven't done anything for you and yet you're here. I don't deserve anything I have! Now the tears won't fucking stop!"

The sobs weren't silent anymore, she gripped fistfuls of Eric's shirt and dropped her head heavily on his shoulder.

"Don't you dare say you don't deserve to live. Tris. You aren't weak. It's okay to cry," he felt his own eyes filling up with tears and he cursed.

"Tris. You've done so much for me, you don't realize."

"What?" she lifted her head; it physically hurt him to see such sadness in her puffy eyes.

"You saved me," he whispered, "if it weren't for you," his voice cracked, "I would be at Erudite with Jeanine killing people and doing experiences on divergents. And you saved them, Tris. You saved Abnegation and you saved me. Alright? You deserve to live. Don't feel guilty for anything. You didn't kill anyone."

Tris flung her arms around his shoulders and he felt slightly better. It meant she had agreed, understood.

"Promise me you won't feel guilty for what happened," he added as he thought about Four.

"I'll try," she whispered.

"Good," he said strongly and squeezed her shoulder at the base of her neck. He was trying to toughen her up but she cringed at the strength of his grip and they both ended up chuckling.

"You okay, now?"

She hummed positively as she looked at him and he could see so much affection and _love_ in her eyes he didn't know how to take it. It was strange. It was probably the first time that anyone had looked at him with these eyes.

"Good, because I need you soldier for a bit of arrangement at my place."

"Yes, Sir!" she laughed and her eyes filled with happiness and it was a combination he couldn't take; he looked away. _So much for dauntless bravery. _He cursed inwardly.

:::::

"What the hell!" Tris nearly screamed when he opened the door.

The first thing that caught her eye was the upside down remnants of his glass table and the shards of glass scattered across the floor. Then she inspected what was once a bookshelf proudly full of books.

"What the hell?"

"You already said that."

They entered the apartment, trying to avoid as much as possible to step on the shards of glass.

Eric was taking in the sight of his scattered and probably ruined books in the room. He was _mourning _them when she spoke up, "Your table."

"Shit yes, be careful with the shards." _And my books_, he thought glumly.

"And your books," she sighed.

"Yes. My books," he sighed too.

"They'll be fine," she picked up one which was standing open against the foot of his bed.

He must have been really mad when she left, she thought, to have thrown his books around he must have. She always knew he kept a great Erudite side in him and it had just been proven by the look of despair on his face when he stared at his beloved books.

"You didn't hurt yourself when you did this, did you?"

She didn't dare to talk about the reason why he had caused such a ruckus in here.

"I'm fine," he sighed.

"We can begin with the books," she said lightly and went to the nearly empty bookshelf to put the book on it.

Eric followed her example and soon enough, the bookshelf was full again. He had tried to stay calm because he well knew it was his own fault.

Then they had to clean the shards of glass from the floor and get rid of the useless table.

Eric grunted as he let himself fall down on his bed; tidying up sure exhausted him. He blamed it on the lack of sleep.

He watched as Tris arranged the bedside lamp and then joined him, dropping heavily on the bed.

That's how the ended on his bed, a few moments later, leaning against the headboard, half sitting, half lying side by side, their shoulders brushing.

Tris wanted nothing more but to cuddle with him but they were in this position for ten minutes already and she didn't know why she still couldn't bring herself to simply turn her body and wrap her arms around him.

She turned her head to look at him. She could stare at his profile, like the last time they were sitting side by side; but this time they were not in a dark corridor, she could clearly study his face.

His eyes were closed. He was probably as tired as her after all the arranging and cleaning they had done the past hours.

Like the last time some strands of black hair were brushing against her shoulder. The difference was that this time she did not hesitate to pick up a strand and play with it.

Eric opened his eyes and stared at her. She admired the grey of his eyes, and then his tattoos attracted her attention. She had always wanted to study them closely.

So she leaned in and brought up a hand to trace with her fingertips the patterns that were covering his skin above the collar of his shirt.

She relished the feeling of his warm skin under her fingers and smiled when he hummed in approval under her touch.

"They're beautiful," she whispered, "your tattoos."

Without any warning, Eric leaned down and captured her lips. They engaged in a slow and tender kiss, their lips moving together. He slid a hand in her hair and tilted back her head so that he could have a better access to her neck and steered his lips there, all the way brushing his lips on her cheek and then on her jaw before nuzzling her there. He breathed in her scent and planted and open-mouthed kisses on her neck.

At the first kiss he placed there, Tris felt a shiver run down her spine. It was the first time that anyone had kissed her there; she had no idea she was that sensitive on the neck. The shiver didn't go unnoticed by Eric; he focused on the same spot, lightly nibbling at the soft flesh, then sucking and then biting a little harder.

She let out a small whimper and buried her hands in his hair. After a few seconds of pure bliss, she wanted to do something to him too, make him feel good, kiss him again. She tucked a little at his hair to silently let him know. He lifted his head with a last hard suck on her neck, provoking a hard shudder this time.

They looked at each other through half lidded eyes.

She shifted her body and began to climb up onto him, bringing her leg up in an attempt to be closer.

Suddenly Eric grunted as if he was hurt, making Tris jerk away from him but she kept her hands on his shoulders.

"You okay?" she frowned.

Eric closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Eric?"

"Can-can you please remove your knee?" He stammered in a shaky voice, "I'm not sure you want to go there."

She looked down and realized in horror what he meant. Her knee had somehow ended up pressing on his crotch when she had _tried_ to straddle him. She blushed and hastily scooted back.

"I'm so sorry, Eric. I didn't mean to h-" she stopped in the middle of the word when her gaze drifted downwards, "-urt you." She finished in a weak voice. Tris had noticed a bulge in his pants that wasn't there before. She was looking everywhere but at him; her cheeks became even hotter than before and something below her stomach clenched in a weird way. She didn't even know if the blush was of mortification or-

She really wanted to either run away from his apartment or jump onto him and kiss him senselessly and roam her hands down his torso. Except that she would never dare to do something this bold. So she sat back, doing her best to ignore the weird feeling in her guts and her flaming hot face and waited for him to say something, anything to break the awkwardness.

Of course Eric understood why she was all flushed; he had noticed when her eyes had looked below his abdomen. But he could not control his body's reactions and when Tris had innocently straddled him and pressed her knee at the wrong place, he had almost wanted to moan and create more friction with her leg.

"Sorry," he began, "I can't really control it."

Her face was still feeling very hot and she tried again not to meet his eyes. Never had she blushed for such a long time. That damn blush wouldn't go away.

"Tris."

Her eyes still focused on the wall.

"Hey it's nothing to fuss about, alright?" he said reassuringly.

She looked up and was surprised to see him smiling smugly at her. How could he find the situation funny? That was the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened in her life. And here he was. Smiling!

"That was a very Stiff behavior," he smirked evilly.

She gaped at him for a few seconds her mouth hanging open and _oh his smirk_, but then clamped but her mouth shut and huffed in fury.

"I hate you," she spat with as much conviction she could gather and slid her legs to the edge of the bed to get away from him.

But her feet didn't have the time to reach the floor. His strong arms encased her from behind and she found herself flying back toward the headboard of the bed. Her back was flush against Eric's chest as he held her in his arms.

"No you don't," he said his voice low and deep, his lips brushing her ear.

"No! Let me go!" she complained, ignoring the goosebumps he caused.

Eric ignored her demand and closed his lips around her earlobe, alternating between sucking and nibbling.

"Stop it, that's not fair," she gulped and vainly pulled at his forearms that solidly rested against her belly.

Tris stopped struggling when he let go of her earlobe with a last peck and rested his forehead against her shoulder.

"I'm sick of you calling me a Stiff," she said softly.

When he didn't say anything she turned her head and addressed him a reproachful look.

"But you're my Stiff," he whispered.

He kissed her one last time on the cheek and then untangled himself from her. "I'm going to take a shower now. You can stay here if you want."

When he closed the bathroom door, she let herself fall back and looked at the ceiling, trying to hold back a smile.

:::::

Tris woke up on a very comfortable bed, snuggled in the fluffiest covers and pillows she had ever slept on.

Back in Abnegation, she could remember that the mattresses were all extremely thin; after all, comfortable beds were a luxury. And during initiation in Dauntless, the beds weren't brilliant either. Only by thinking about it she could still feel the metallic springs digging in her back at the slightest movement.

She buried her face deeper into the pillow and smelled a very familiar scent. It was Eric's bed. She fell asleep while he was in the shower.

Then she realized that she hadn't slipped under the covers; it meant that Eric did it while she was sleeping. It was silly but the thought of it made her really happy.

She hadn't slept at all the night before because of the attack; of course she would fall asleep. But Eric had better find some time to sleep too, she thought. She had to find him and convince him to take a few hours of rest.

But first, she badly needed a hot shower.

She considered going back to the dormitory and immediately refused. There was a clean shower here and she could get clean clothes later; or clean underwear. For the time being she gladly took the offer Eric made to her before; she was allowed to take clothes from him. She was so excited she almost laughed out loud.

So she pushed the covers, headed to his drawers and retrieved a hoodie from the middle drawer. Unfortunately, the trousers or the shorts would never fit around her waist.

It was a reflex, she didn't decide to do it, but she brought the hoodie to her nose anyway. And she shoulders slumped a bit; that cloth hadn't been worn recently, she could only smell lye.

Then she was tempted to peek at the other drawers. She didn't hesitate for too long; tucking the hoodie under her arm, she opened the drawer above and closed it as fast as she had opened it. It was full of socks and- boxers.

Ignoring the possibility of taking a closer look, she crouched and tried the bottom drawer and found several pair of boots and sneakers.

She stood up, disappointed in her discoveries and the closet caught her eye. She walked to the door and opened to be faced with a massive stockpile of all sorts of weapons she could imagine. Noticing the bulletproof jackets hanging on the door, it made her thought. She hoped they would never have to kill more people; there had been enough deaths in Abnegation.

But Erudite didn't know how to fight anyway; so if the Dauntless stayed united, there was no possibility of a war. She hoped it would be the case.

Tris sighed as she closed the door and headed straight for the shower.

As expected, she felt completely relaxed when she emerged from the bathroom later with wet hair and sporting her new hoodie.

A glance on the clock told her it was nearly three in the afternoon and she laced her boots and went out of the apartment; Eric had to take some rest and she was determined to find him.

:::::

Later Eric ran into Tris, not so gently; they bumped violently but this time Tris didn't fall back on her backside because he caught her wrist before she could.

"Eric! Where have you been?" she asked, not even caring that she could have hurt herself.

"Meeting. Sorry, didn't want to wake you up."

"Talking about sleeping," she began while dragging him by the hand in the direction to his place, "you need to rest."

"No, Tris-"

"Oh yes you are sleeping," she said in an inquisitive tone.

"Yes but I'm hungry," he stated while trying not to laugh; he found it funny when Tris tried to be bossy. Funny but adorable; but that he wouldn't admit, 'adorable' wasn't a word in his vocabulary.

"Me too," she grumbled.

Eric let out a small chuckle and pushed her to the opposite direction, his strength was a great advantage. "Let's just eat first and then sleep."

She finally gave up and they walked side by side to the cafeteria.

"Did you just wake up?"

"No," she huffed, "I've been looking for you for the past hour and no one was really helpful. It seems everyone is either drunk or too occupied eating as much food as they can in the kitchens. Why is everyone even helping themselves in the kitchens?"

"Well, we've agreed with Rave that it'd be too much to ask the cooks to work today. Everyone's had a long night."

It explained a lot, Tris thought. "So we're heading to the kitchens too?" she asked and he nodded.

Their arms full of fruits and muffins, Eric and Tris settled behind a fridge at the very back of the huge white kitchen. It was probably the only room with the infirmary that wasn't of dark walls.

"I'm so hungry. Do you think the cooks will make something for dinner?"

"No. Rave told them they could rest for today. But the kitchens are staying opened."

After a moment he added, "We'll give instructions tonight; everyone has to be at the Pit and we'll announce the three new leaders."

"What time? Do you think you can sleep a bit before?" Tris worried.

"Around eight."

"Then let's go!" she stood up, "you really need to sleep."

She wouldn't let it go, he thought amusingly; but it was true that he badly needed to rest. So he finally agreed to go back to his apartment and she followed.

It made him frown; he did not understand why she wasn't even bothering to go and see her friends. He didn't want to take all her time and he was starting to get the feeling that he was wasting her time.

"Tris maybe you should go see your friends," he suggested when he was finally lying on his bed.

"I know."

"You do?"

"I know I should but I don't know. Eric, I don't really want to see people," she said guiltily, "and I know I should apologize because I never told them I was divergent and at one point I'll have to tell them what happened to us when they were all under the serum but I don't want to do it now."

He didn't know what to answer. He never talked about feelings. He just didn't want her to feel guilty or anything.

"Wake me up before eight?" he found himself saying and he cursed inwardly.

"Sure." He was a bit taken aback by the bright smile she offered him but didn't say anything. Now that he was lying like a dead weight, he became even more aware than before of the tiredness.

:::::

"Listen up!" Rave roared through a microphone at the whole Dauntless faction gathered in the Pit, "I'm announcing the new leaders! If you choose to refuse, then decline the offer now."

He waited no longer than a second before announcing the three names, "Victr, Shaw and Katlina."

But none of the two men and the woman declined the offer, after all it was cowardice to refuse such a responsibility; they walked to Rave and Eric, greeted them with firm handshakes and Shaw even hugged Rave in a manly fashion.

"And I suppose no one wants to oppose our choices?" Eric asked the crowd.

"Yeah we're fine with them but the problem is you!" someone suddenly shouted.

Tris who was attending the gathering among the crowd felt her heart jump in her chest. Not everyone in Dauntless was convinced that Eric was in their side.

Fortunately for Eric, Rave chose to stand up for him, "Shut the hell up!" he yelled at the microphone; his voice resonating against the walls, "I'll tell you why Eric should stay a leader. Yes, he worked with fucking Erudite and I can't stand it either but that's why he knows a great deal about them and what they could throw at us. He may have betrayed us before but it's obvious that he's with us now. He saved your asses and we still need him. Now that's said, anyone else has something to say?"

Tris counted to ten in her head and no one dared to answer the intimidating Rave; she sighed in relief while passing a hand through her hair. She didn't know why Max had the authority before; Rave was by far more intimidating than him.

"Well then should we drink in celebration?" Victr asked sheepishly leaning against Rave to be near his mic, "what do you say?"

Rave laughed and it was what the crowd needed to erupt in cheers.

"Let's get drunk!" a woman screamed at the top of her lungs.

Tris laughed nervously, she was so thankful for Rave.

A few minutes later, she found herself leaning against the wall, staying out of the celebration. Alcohol was still alien to her and now wasn't the best time to try.

She had tried to keep her eyes on Eric, watching with satisfaction people chatting with him, some even laughing, offering him their bottles. But after a moment, he was too deep into the crowd and she couldn't see him.

So she sat against that wall, hoping that none of her friends would spot her; she simply wanted to be alone.

Hours later, she was getting bored so she stood up. Just as she removed the dust from her backside, Eric came to stand beside her, two apples in hand. He gave one to her.

"It's getting late," he spoke up, "I'm heading back home. Apparently I haven't slept enough."

"I'm happy for you," she smiled up at him, "people are accepting you back."

Eric didn't know how to answer and he couldn't use physical moves because there were probably people staring so he just smiled back.

"I understand if you want to go stay with your friends, now."

"I-"

"I'm taking all your time."

"Eric!"

"What?"

"Can I stay with you tonight?" she blushed.

Eric gaped at her.

"But I'll sleep on the couch," she quickly added.

He still didn't answer; instead he stared at her with great interest.

"I promise not to bother you," she said with uncertainty.

"Sure. But I'm taking the couch, then," Eric shrugged, never losing eye contact with her and took a bite of the apple in his hand.

It was provocation. He was trying to provoke her; perfectly knowing that asking was making her insecure, she knew it, he was playing a nasty game.

"No. It's your place, you're not _not_ sleeping in your bed," she narrowed her eyes.

"You take the bed," he took another bite of the apple.

"No."

"Or we could sleep together in the bed."

He smirked but it vanished when Tris claimed, "I'll take the couch or I sleep on the floor."

"You can't sleep on the floor," it was his turn to frown.

"I will if you sleep on the couch," she said triumphantly.

"Alright! Take the damn couch!"

"Yes, I will, thank you," she smiled.

But in the middle of the night, when she was sure that Eric was profoundly asleep, she stood up from the leather couch and tiptoed to Eric's bed.

He was sprawled on his back, fully dressed in casual clothes, his head turned toward her and his hair a messy black mass on the pillow.

She stood next to him for a minute, making sure that his breathing was slow and regular and then she slipped under the cover, snuggled close to him, her head tucked on his outstretched arm.

:::::

In the morning, waking up was a delight for Eric but a huge embarrassment for Tris when they found themselves lying very close to each other, their legs tangled, his arms around her and one of her hand resting mysteriously under his shirt.

They stared at each other's eyes for what seemed like eternity and Eric's smile kept widening.

"Well I wasn't expecting that, Stiff," he broke the silence and her hand jerked away from under his shirt. "Oh but please don't feel obligated to remove your hand."

Tris swore and snuggled even closer, hiding her blushing face at the crook of his neck.

"That's funny because I clearly remember you saying that you were taking the damn couch."

"Shut up," she moaned.

"Alright."

He held her tighter and they fell back asleep.

.

Tris woke up hours later as she felt someone shaking her shoulder.

"Tris. Tris wake up," she recognized Eric's voice and rolled back to try to cuddle with him again but found nothing but covers.

"Tris we missed breakfast and we're about to miss lunch if you don't wake up now."

She opened her eyes and found him standing next to the bed. Now that he talked about it; she was quite hungry. Tris sat up very slowly.

"I'm hungry," she told him in a raspy voice.

"Then wake up!"

She dragged her feet to the bathroom and took a warm shower. It was so relaxing she didn't realize she was in it for too long.

She jumped when Eric rapped his fist against the door repeatedly.

"Come on! You've been there for ages!"

But as he could still hear the shower running, he didn't stop his fist to her great annoyance.

"Alright!" she shouted.

She quickly finished and opened the door to find Eric sprawled on the couch. He chose to wear casual clothes again; black sweatpants and shirt. Those made her realize that she really needed to stop by the dormitory to retrieve some pants and underwear.

"We can go now," she said and he stood up immediately.

"I'm starving."

Tris wanted to snap back that she was starving too but found his lips against hers as well as the cold lip ring and she forgot everything.

The kiss was urgent and Eric broke it too soon when he considered it was too heated for him to keep his hands from wandering under her clothes. He could feel his body reacting and with the reaction it got from Tris the last time it happened, he had to stop now.

But it wasn't enough for Tris, she tucked back his head down and sucked at his lip ring, causing him to groan.

"No, Tris," he whispered against her lips, "we've got to go."

Fortunately for him, she leaned back and nodded. Both of them were breathing heavily.

"Let's go then," he heard his voice huskier than usual and knew well why it was.

On the way to the cafeteria, Eric had decided that a conversation was needed between the two of them. He had to ask her exactly what the limits in their relationship were because it was becoming a serious problem.

When they reached the entrance of the cafeteria Eric looked down at her, "See you later."

"What? No," Tris scowled, "I'm staying with you."

"You sure you want to eat with me?"

"Of course. Anyway people need to know they can trust you. And I am divergent so it's the best way. Let's just act like we really get along."

"What, so we don't get along in reality?" he asked smugly but inwardly didn't feel that confident; he could already imagine people fussing about them sitting together.

.

"Oh my God. Will, do you know why is Tris eating with that twisted guy?" Christina asked her friend.

"Will you give him a break? It's getting old," Will sighed

"Excuse me? And which side are you exactly?"

"I'm on no one's side, alright? What you're doing is stupid."

Christina huffed, "You're just saying that because he comes from Erudite and you think he's smart."

"Well he is intelligent."

"See?"

"No, _you_ see," Will gestured to the couple sitting a few tables away, "Tris looks happy. They're friends and I don't see why they can't eat lunch together."

Her friend huffed, "why is everyone accepting him and ignoring everything he's done? I don't get it."

"It's alright it if you can't forgive him but let Tris be the judge for herself."

Christina sighed.

"You should talk with her, you know? You guys don't spend so much time together lately. I think you need to have fun, between girls, you know?"

"Yeah," she muttered, "that's actually a great idea," she smiled at Will.

"Guys, listen up!" someone yelled at the top of his lungs. Christina and Will's eyes snapped to the leaders' table where they were all standing except for the friends or family of the leaders. Christina found Tris sitting at that table and felt a pang of jealousy; she hadn't realize before what table it was.

"We will call a few names. If you hear your name, we ask you to step out," Victr's voice resonated in the silent cafeteria.

Katlina, the only woman leader, read fifteen names but only thirteen men stepped toward the leaders' table.

The men all looked nervous; no one in the cafeteria knew why they had been called except for them themselves and the leaders.

"All thirteen of you, we will ask you to either pledge allegiance to your faction and to your new leaders or leave the compound within the day."

Chattering broke the silence in the cafeteria.

"These men were not under the serum and there's a reason why," it was Eric's turn to speak up. "Max and I approached them and they had all agreed to willingly participate in the attack on Abnegation, under Jeanine Matthews's orders."

"What about Eric?"

"Yeah! You were acting willingly too!"

The chattering soon turned into shouts.

Rave yelled, "I think we've already established that Eric has been forgiven, as he played an important part in your release and proved himself to be against Jeanine!"

But only more shouts thundered from everywhere.

"Enough! Whether you like it or not, Eric is indispensable to our side! He knows information that will allow us to defend and prepare ourselves against the fucking enemy!"

Tris who was sitting at the leaders' table flinched at Rave's shout. At least he had silenced the cafeteria again. But she wondered why Rave was so trusting of Eric. After all he was the first one betrayed.

"Does anyone else here have a problem with Eric being a leader?" he asked in a calmer tone.

And no one else broke the silence.

"Now the thirteen of you, step forward when we call your name," he addressed to the men standing in line in front of the table.

"Lester Maycock!" Katlina called and a short but bulky man stepped toward the leaders.

"Do you choose to pledge allegiance to us and everyone else sitting here? Or, do you choose to leave within the day?"

"I-I will stay," Lester stuttered.

Rave quirked his eyebrow. "Be more specific."

It was all Lester needed to stand at attention and speak in a stronger voice, "I pledge allegiance to the Dauntless, to the brave. And I ask for forgiveness!" he turned to face the others sitting in the cafeteria, "to all of you."

When no one answered, he bowed his head. "I'm sorry, everyone," he added quietly, but it was perfectly audible in the quiet cafeteria.

Two men seated at a table nodded to each other and stood up at the same time.

"Just stay here, man," one of them said.

"Yeah, man!"

Suddenly cheers erupted in the room, everyone wanted to shout him an encouraging word.

"Just come sit back here!"

"We're all brothers!"

To Tris's surprise, Rave smiled and joined the happy yells, "Welcome back Lester!"

The latter turned around to look at the leaders and his face brightened, he quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and jogged to the nearest table, welcomed by strong friendly slaps on the back.

.

In the end, eleven out of thirteen apologized and were welcomed back into the brotherhood of Dauntless. The two others were booed, and left to join back Max.

Some of the Dauntless asked them to be imprisoned but the leaders responded by saying that they could not imprison their former brothers. In fact, the leaders had all agreed during their meeting that it was a great provocation to Max to send back the traitors. They could spill out information about them but they were confident that none would help Max and his twenty soldiers to attack.

The Dauntless had the Fortress; the traitors had nothing but the roof of Erudite who didn't know how to fight.

As for the forgiven soldiers, the leaders had warned them that they were closely watched and that at the slightest false step, they would be considered back as traitors.

:::::

At the end of lunch, Christina walked to Tris and asked her if they could talk for a minute.

Tris led her to the corridor Uriah called 'their special place' and crossed her arms, waiting for the girl in front of her to apologize for her cold behavior.

But Christina didn't apologize and after a few minutes of staring at each other in silence, she huffed.

"Seriously, can you blame me?"

For a moment Tris asked herself if it was really worth it, trying to recreate the bond they had before. Actually she couldn't understand how they did have such a friendly relationship, it felt like they were completely two different persons.

"I mean, everyone knows Eric is the reason shit happened _and _the shit happened to me, if case you forgot. And I totally get it; you weren't under the serum, it's not your fault, you can't possibly understand what we've all been through."

This conversation was getting really annoying. Then she understood why it used to work well between them; it was because Will was always there to stop Christina when she went too far in her bitching.

Where was Will? She asked herself and almost laughed out loud.

"It's fine," Tris smiled, hoping that it would end the conversation faster.

"Right?" Christina agreed in a high pitched voice, "I _knew_ we'd be on the same plate," she lunged to hug Tris. "So want to hang out?"

"Actually, I can't, I promised Uriah I'd meet him," Tris quickly improvised, "there's something he wanted to talk about, I don't know what."

"Oh! I know! He has a crush on you!" Christina squeaked.

_Oh my God._

"I don't think so, Christina."

"Ok ok, you should go then," she smiled brightly, "wait. What's this?"

"What?" Tris looked at her incredulously.

Christina frowned and then shoved Tris's collar away from her neck.

"There! A hickey!" then she pushed her hair away from her neck, "and another. I didn't even know it was possible to have a hickey on the ear," she giggled.

Tris shot her hands to her neck to cover any mark Eric could have left. _That jerk, did he have to be so obvious?_

"Is there something I need to know, my dear friend?" Christina wiggled her eyebrow, "and don't try to lie to me I'm warning you," Christina smirked.

"Chris, please, not now." Tris forced herself to roll her eyes to appear annoyed but casual. She ignored the heat that flowed to her cheeks.

"What? Oh come on! If you have time to get all hot with a boy I consider you have time to tell me who it is"

"I- I" Tris stammered, cursing at her blush.

"Unless it is a girl of course. But something tells me little Uriah is guilty."

"It's not from a girl nor Uriah," Tris groaned, "I don't need to tell you anything; maybe this is an allergic reaction to something. I don't know."

"Are you kidding me? I've never heard an excuse that lame." Christina laughed, "How many times do I have to tell you that you _can't_ lie to me. I know he did it, you didn't sleep at the dorm last night. Just admit it. Oh!" she gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. A look of horror swept away any trace of amusement from her eyes.

Tris took a deep breath. She knew where this was going and she didn't like the situation at all.

"How could you?" Christina whispered, "of all the guys out there… you had to pick _him_. Oh God. He's- he's bad for anyone, he's sadistic, Tris. Something is twisted with his mind."

Tris huffed, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me! It's _Eric_. He's the only guy you were around lately. And-" she swallowed, "and I've noticed how he looks at you. Listen to me; he's mad. And he's too old!"

"He is eighteen and what is going on between us has nothing to do with you."

"Of course it has something to do with me! You are my best friend! And Eric. He's bad, Tris, he is insane. He laughs when people get hurt, or worse, he wants people to get hurt. You told me yourself during initiation that he makes you think of a babysitter with knives."

"Stop it!" Tris yelled. "I won't let you talk about him like this!"

"What?" Christina screeched, "He almost pushed me down the Chasm, for fuck's sake!" she took a deep breath, "you're a stiff so it's okay to pity him when he's eating alone in the cafeteria. It's okay to tell people to stop insulting him. But it's _not _okay to- to kiss him and fuck him!"

Tris suddenly lunged forward and pushed Christina against the wall, her fingers digging in her shoulders.

"Ow!" Christina yelped in pain.

Tris could feel her heart thumping strongly in her chest and had the urge to slam her fist on Christina's jaw to make her stop talking. That was enough; if people didn't talk nasty words about random people then they had no right to do it about Eric.

People needed to see him for what he was.

"You don't know anything about Eric," Tris hissed dangerously. "If you say anything more, I swear I'll make you regret it."

Christina waited for a few seconds, still trapped between Tris and the hard wall. Then she gulped and glared at her.

"He changed you. The Tris I know would have never threatened me. You're becoming like _him_." She spat the last word.

Tris snorted, "I'd rather become him than you, spitting your venom and bitching about everyone. That's not how you treat a best friend," Tris lowered her arms, releasing her.

She knew Christina was right about this, it was wrong of her to want to hit her; it was wrong. She closed her eyes but didn't find it in her to apologize.

"You don't have any right to keep me away from him. Mind your own business and stop trying to read me."

And with a last glare, Tris marched away angrily.

"You're fucking him just because he's a leader," Christina walked from the wall and smiled smugly when she saw that Tris stopped in her tracks, "you don't want to be the little Stiff that everyone points their finger at. You want to be famous and you're using the guy."

Tris turned around, relishing in the flinch Christina made when she saw the passive expression on her face instead of an angry one.

She confidently walked to her and when she was close enough, the first personal training she got from Eric came into mind.

Using her left arm for momentum, she swung her torso in a perfect rotation and drove her right fist forward, clenching her muscles.

Christina yelped. And a second later, she yelled all the insults that she knew, when she realized that Tris had just played with her, sending her fist close to her head, not hitting her, just scaring the shit out of her.

"Careful," Tris whispered, "maybe next time my fist will find your face." And with that said, she walked away.

She needed a hug from Eric. Badly.

.

"Eric."

He turned and was surprised when Tris silently walked to him to wrap her arms around his torso and bury her face in his shirt. He felt her inhale and ignored the goosebumps that she caused.

"Tris, don't you mind? People will know," he whispered. They were in the Pit and it wasn't empty. In fact, since the attack, the Pit was always crowded of dauntless members who had no job to do because they either used to work at the Fence or they used to patrol in the streets for factionless.

"Screw people," her muffled voice came from his shirt. His heart swelled with pride, relieved that she was actually willing to let people know about their relationship, he allowed himself to return the hug, ignoring the dauntless members eying them in surprise. After the day of the speech, everyone knew who Tris was. She was the divergent initiate who took side with Eric and destroyed the program with him.

He was stroking her arms, bringing his hands up and then down again, creating warmth between their skins.

"Hey, something's wrong?" Eric frowned when she still hid her face.

She lifted her head and her blue eyes looked straight into his. Then he felt her fingertips drawing patterns on his back.

"Nothing. Christina's just being stupid," she closed her eyes and sighed.

Eric bent until their foreheads touched and said nothing. Never could he have imagined that Tris would find him for comfort. He grinned when she opened her eyes, recalling the day she wandered to Erudite to find her brother, the same day they had trained together for the first time.

She hit him lightly on the arm.

"You jerk!" she laughed.

"What? I didn't do anything wrong," he said in mock indignation.

Tris pushed her blond hair behind her shoulder and pointed him her neck and her left earlobe where the two dark crimson bruises were visible.

Eric eyed them proudly and raised an eyebrow; he'd almost forgotten about these. He bent and brushed his lips against the soft skin below her jaw line. He smirked when he felt her shiver and planted a light peck there. But when he grazed his teeth against her skin she hit the back of his head and glared at him.

"Don't you dare do it again."

"Why? I like you having my marks," he said smugly.

She blushed, "You sadistic moron," she pouted jokingly. "These," she pointed at her hickeys, "are the reason why Christina is being an imbecile."

"I don't like her anyway. She doesn't seem very understanding of a friend," he snickered.

"Yeah, well, she doesn't like you either from what I hear. I can't stand her bitching at people anymore."

"What do you mean? It's not any different from before."

"She kept saying crude things about you. And I basically threatened her," she stared at him worriedly.

Eric didn't know how to react. He was glad because Tris had chosen his side when the silly girl that she calls her best friend insulted him. That meant a lot to him. He was proud of them because they were a strong pair. And he just loved when Tris was being his Stiff yet undeniably dauntless. But he couldn't tell Tris that. She was obviously saddened by the argument.

"You know, I think she'll eventually understand. I mean, I don't particularly like her but I have to admit I was extremely tough with her. See Zeke's brother doesn't hate us together. She hates me because of the punishment I made her do above the Chasm."

He sighed in relief when she smiled at him.

"Why did you do that anyway?" she asked him curiously.

"What?" he was wondering if she was talking about the fact that he had abandoned what he had worked for the past four years.

Eric looked away for an instant; he took a deep breath and stared back at Tris.

"People think it's a bad thing to be feared. But I believed it takes a great amount of respect to fear someone."

"It actually makes sense."

"It does. I still believe it; I just don't care about people anymore."

"I'm so glad all of this is over."

Eric waited before speaking again, "It's not over." He could feel Tris tensing against his body, "I've worked with Jeanine for years. And I had a privileged position compared to the others." He stopped abruptly before continuing, "I know what she's capable of. I don't think she's going to stop after what we've done."

He kissed the top of her head, "Don't worry, I'll speak with Rave and the other leaders and we'll see."

"Eric?"

"hm?"

"I'm glad you're here," she said before burying her face in his shirt yet again. "and your hugs are the best."

:::::

That night, Eric and Tris did not argue about who would take the couch. They didn't even talk about it; both of them naturally thought that they would sleep in the same bed.

"Eric?" Tris whispered when they were lying on their side staring at each other in the dim light provided by the bedside lamp.

He hummed in response.

"You okay?"

"Sure."

"Eric."

He didn't answer.

"Talk to me."

She was still answered by silence.

"Talk to me about your time in Erudite," she reached for his hand.

"I-" he began and she waited, not wanting to rush him.

"I was a kid, ok?"

"Eric I won't judge you for anything you did in the past," she reassured him.

"My childhood was hell. My parents didn't give a damn about me and I spent my whole time studying to- I don't know maybe I expected them to give me credit. So I studied. Of course it paid; I had top marks and my parents started talking to me. But it wasn't enough. Even psychology books say it; every child need love, friends or anything to interact. No one cared about me, they cared about my grades and my future.

Of course Jeanine understood what my problem was. Hell, psychology is one of the many fields in which she's a genius. So she approached me because I was at top of each class I took and tried to read me to see if I could fit for her project. Sending a transfer to dauntless. And I'm not stupid, I knew when she was trying to manipulate me but I was trapped anyway. No. I let myself getting trapped.

She trained me for years and I knew what the final goal of her project was, but I didn't care. And-" he took a deep breath, "I guess at that time, it was the only way to be acknowledged by everyone for me. When- when Jeanine offered me to be part of her plan, I shamefully ignored the eventual outcome of Abnegation, I needed this. To be respected."

"Twisted woman," Tris said as she glared at nothing in particular.

"Jeanine?" he whispered, "I don't know who's the more twisted one between her and me."

"Eric don't say that," Tris protested.

"Anyway, she let me read her paperwork and sometimes she even asked for my opinion on new projects and the worse is that I even liked being there and studying and learning and-"

"Eric!" Tris clamped her hands on his mouth, "listen to me. Don't you dare think of yourself lower than Jeanine. You're by far better than her. And I may be repeating what you told me last time but you saved Abnegation. And me. And maybe it's too soon to say it but I very well think that I love you."

She didn't even blush. And for that she was proud of herself.

She held her hands on his mouth for a few more seconds afraid of what he would say.

Someone suddenly rapped strongly on Eric's door. They jerked up on the bed.

"Eric!" the person outside the door shouted with urgency, "Tris! Wake up!"

"It's Uriah," Tris recognized the voice and darted to the door to open him.

As soon as the door was open, Uriah barged inside. His eyes were wide in panic.

"We're in big trouble," he took Tris's hand and walked to Eric who just got out of the bed. "Everyone's killing each other."

* * *

**AN: **Haha, I wish people would start to understand that when I wear my headphones; it means that I don't want to be talked to. I mean, I've already explained it to my dear siblings a few times.

We're really nearing the end of Unexpected.

Tell me what you thought of the chapter if you want! And thank you so much anyone who read the chapter :D

About this chapter, it's really long; hell it's the longest I've written, and I've thought about splitting it in two but then no. I really wanted all these 'peaceful' moments in the same chapter; I mean, they're back at Dauntless, they're together, have a great time and all.

Because they've been through hell, and suddenly everything is so easy, they reunite, they flee, they get to dauntless they save so many people, a new organization is being created, Eric is kinda forgiven; it's perfect. They can focus on themselves for a moment, they have hope.

But Chuuuups says no.

Chuuuups be mean and evil again.

So yeah I hope that it didn't bore you because it was long and our protagonists were peaceful for a moment. I was afraid it would be boring to the readers but my dear Na-tan -I love you Na-tan- said it was ok and probably her favorite chapter.

I think that AN is getting too long.

.

I have an English question for anyone who's willing to answer! It's about the genitive. I don't know if I should write -for example- "Tris's eyes" or "Tris' eyes". The persons who have answered me for now have different opinion, so I'm still in the doubt :P

I remember when I was in middle school, I learnt in English class that for names ending with an "s" you still have to put the 's after it -like that "Tris's eyes". But since then, I've read plenty of books and fanfictions and I sometimes I come across authors who won't put the "s" after the ', like that; "Tris' eyes".


	15. Chapter 14

_._

_Explosions on the day you wake up_

_Needing somebody and you've learned_

_It's okay to be afraid_

_But it will never be the same_

_._

**Chapter 14**

"Everyone is killing each other!" Uriah exclaimed, gripping Tris's hand and Eric's arm.

"What?"

"I- I don't understand. And-" he stuttered, his breathing was erratic and he let go of Tris and Eric to pass his hands through his cropped hair.

"Uriah," Eric said, "calm down. I need you to tell me exactly what you saw."

The dark-skinned boy opened his mouth but no words came out. Eric put both of his hands on the boy's shoulder and searched for his eyes.

"Uriah. Calm down," he said gently, "breathe with me, alright?" With his hands, Eric motioned when to inhale and when to exhale. "You okay?" he asked in a still gentle voice.

"Yes. It's just. I don't understand. I woke up because Zeke was attacking our mother, and he wouldn't listen and I don't know what would have happened if mom hadn't taken the gun from him. He had to fight with bare hands but mom knocked him out and we tied him to his bed and then we went out because there was a lot of noise outside. It's like part of the faction is under the fucking sim and they're trying to kill the rest of us. Eric what's going on?" he finished, panting.

The latter walked to the bedside table and picked up a small black device that looked like a walkie-talkie. He tapped on it a few commands.

"So you say only some of us are under the sim?" he asked Uriah, his eyes never leaving the walkie-talkie.

"Yes."

"Uriah-" Tris began but was interrupted when he lunged at her and wrapped his arms around her smaller frame. "Uriah, you're fine," she whispered, rubbing his back.

"He could have killed mom. He could have killed her."

"I know. Where's your mom, Uri?"

"I left her with a few others friends, they're fighting together," he finally let go of Tris and turned back to Eric, "they're killing each other, we have to stop them!"

"Rave?" Eric spoke to the device in his hand.

"He's not answering, is he?" Tris murmured.

Eric shook his head, "I bet he's under the sim. And none of the other leaders are answering. Alright, let's arm ourselves."

The three of them walked to the closet –Eric's own stockpile of weapons- and as they armed themselves and slipped on bulletproof jackets, the walkie-talkie spoke up.

"Eric?" it was a deep voice and the latter clicked on a button.

"Victr, I thought you were under the sim too," he spoke through the microphone.

"No," Victr whispered, "but I was in middle of saving my ass I couldn't answer."

"We're the only leaders aware."

"Yeah I almost got shot by Katlina. I had to hurt her, I feel so bad. She won't die, but still."

Tris and Uriah watched intently as Eric communicated with Victr.

"What the hell is going on, Eric?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. Tell me where you are. Are you alone?"

"Nah, we're eight; we're hiding in the training room. And you?"

"Noted, we're joining you. We're three but we may take more soldiers with us on the way."

"Alright. We're not moving. Keep me updated."

"Roger."

Eric closed his closet and walked to his door.

"Ready to go?" he asked Tris and Uriah.

Both of them nodded.

"We must do our possible to avoid killing anyone. If they're attacking you, aim for the legs or the arms. But we're gonna do our possible to avoid being seen. Understood?"

Tris was frightened by what was waiting for them outside and amazed by Eric's grip on the situation. He was so calm and she was sure that if it wasn't for him, she would have been as much panicked as Uriah when he had arrived. She was so stressed her stomach was painful and her body seemed numb.

She watched Eric leaning close to her and startling her, he crushed his lips on hers, so strongly that she had to lean back slightly. It didn't last long; he pressed his forehead against hers and whispered against her lips, "Don't do anything reckless, stay safe and keep close to me."

Tris kept her eyes closed, her hands were pressed against his chest feeling his heart beating. She had to open her eyes when he leaned away and addressed to Uriah, "Uriah you too, stay close to me."

"What, no kiss for me?" he smiled weakly.

It earned him a frightening glare from Eric and Tris nudged Uriah hard.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Damn!"

"Let's go then."

The three of them had to go by the Pit to reach the training room; it was dangerous but they had no choice.

The Pit had been transformed into a battlefield. The soldiers had created small shelters with wooden or metallic crates so that they could attack without being shot. Tris was horrified to discover the number of bodies lying on the stone floor; her hands began to sweat on her electric rifle.

"Mom!" Uriah called and ran behind a small wall made of three crates. Tris and Eric had no choice; they exchanged a glance and followed him. His shout had probably signaled their presence to anyone that didn't notice them before.

A dark-skinned woman held him by the shoulders and inspected his body hoping not to spot any wound. Other soldiers were crouched behind the crates, shooting at other dauntless members, ignoring the three new comers.

"Mom, I'm fine!" Uriah shook her hands away from him.

"You better be or I'll knock you out cold too," she answered strongly, "Eric," she nodded, "and you're Tris. You're the girl who took the first place instead of my Uriah."

"Mom!" Uriah complained.

"M'am, we' heading to the training room," Eric informed Uriah's mother, "Victr will be there with a few others. We'll decide what to do, then."

"Wait, you've got to stop!" Tris said meekly as she put a hand on one of the men's shoulder, "you can't shoot at them; they're not conscious."

"I know!" the man turned out to be much younger than she thought, he looked like he was about a year older than her. He had blond locks that covered his forehead and his frown but Tris could still see the panic in his brown eyes. "If we don't attack, they'll come at us!" he snapped.

"That's why we should run for now. Come with us to the training room," Eric said.

At this moment there was a loud explosion coming from their left; another makeshift shelter had been destroyed.

"Grenade!" a man yelled.

"Fucking hell," the blond boy whom Tris had stopped earlier cursed.

"She's using grenades," Eric muttered, "that bitch."

"Who?" Uriah's mother asked.

"Jeanine Matthews," Tris answered.

"I'm following you, Eric!" the blond-haired boy exclaimed, "I personally don't want to be annihilated by a grenade."

"Let's all go!"

The new-formed group darted to an adjacent corridor that connected to Pit to another maze of corridors.

They were relieved to discover that their fellow dauntless under the sim were concentrated in the Pit; so they didn't ran into anyone. They had almost reached the training room when they heard gun fires and shouts.

They continued to run down the corridor anyway, if not with more conviction; they could help.

Eric held his walkie-talkie close to his mouth and yelled, "Victr! When you asked me to keep you updated I believed you would too! What the hell's going on?"

Victr's voice came out panicked from the speaker along with the raspy sounds of gun fires. "Well sorry I didn't think of you when I was busy saving my fucking ass!"

"Alright, we're almost there."

"I have other soldiers with me," Eric spoke through the microphone.

One of the double doors of the training room was wide open. Eric was the first to walk in, carbine at the ready.

Tris was right behind him and followed his example with her electric rifle. Though while he walked straight toward the shootings, she would have preferred him to stay close the wall where he would have been safer.

People were running past her and Eric to get the opportunity to help their friends struggling to survive.

"Aim for the legs or arms!" Eric yelled when he noticed and he did as he said right after that.

Tris didn't do anything. She didn't know why. She just watched people after people collapsing.

They weren't dead, she tried to reassure herself; just wounded.

She gradually became the slower one, right behind everyone else. But that's why she saw the man.

A dauntless man approached Eric from the right. His gun was pointed at Eric. No one else saw.

Eric was showing him his back.

Tris inhaled sharply and in the blink of an eye, she heard her rifle resonating loudly and watched the man falling on his side.

Eric instantly turned around, and understood the situation quickly.

Her heart bumping painfully in her chest, Tris darted to the collapsed man and rolled him over to inspect his state.

Right below his ribs on his left side was the wound; making a wet stain on his black shirt. With trembling hands, Tris brought her fingers to the stain and found them tainted in red.

The gun fires had stopped and she looked around. People were hugging each other, clasping each other on the shoulders or dragging wounded men and women on the more comfortable surface of the mats.

"Tris, everything's alright?" Eric asked worriedly.

"No- I- He," she stammered.

He crouched on the other side of the man and eyed the wound.

"We have to put him on the mat with the others."

"But he'll die! He'll die!" she countered while she pressed her hands on the blood wet stain on his black shirt, "if we leave him here he'll die."

It was a horrible sight; a man with a deathly wound, bleeding himself out but his face stayed passive as he looked at nothing in particular. He couldn't even feel any pain; he was dying and didn't know.

Eric hurried to her side and dragged her away from the scene with a death grip on her arm.

"Tris," he pleaded.

Everyone was gradually looking at them and the man lying.

"It's my entire fault," he heard her voice crack with emotions, "you told us to shoot at their legs. You told us. I panicked. I panicked."

"Tris it's alright. You're allowed to make mistakes, you hear me?"

"Not when someone's life is involved," she whispered back as she wept silently, the tears unnoticed by the others. "I just killed a man."

"It was merely a defensive action. We trained you during initiation but it's your first time in a real situation like this. Listen Tris, he'll die."

She whimpered and he gripped her shoulder tightly, "Yes, he'll die. It's a war; people die. And we're able to prevent any more deaths."

"Remember when we were at Erudite? You shut out your emotions. It's the same. Do it now Tris. Fight for Dauntless. You must be strong."

"Eric-"

"No Tris actually I think you're already very strong. You just saved my life," he whispered, "Show me what you're capable of."

She sniffed, rubbed at her face and whispered a small "okay".

"Someone close the door," Eric addressed to the others and bent to lift the man. He brought him to a mat and left Tris to the eyes of everyone else.

"Will!" Tris recognized him; she walked to him and closed her arms around his neck in a fierce embrace, "I'm so glad you're awake."

"Of course I'm awake, you were always the one sleeping in, remember?" he teased her.

Tris smiled at him and directed her gaze to Christina, who was sitting a few feet away, on the ledge of one of the mats.

"Christina," she nodded in acknowledgment.

The girl offered her a small tight smile in answer and Tris's attention didn't linger on her, she grinned as Uriah and Will exchanged a manly hug and they all turned toward Victr and Eric.

A silence descended upon the small army of fifteen soldiers they formed.

"Not all of us are in the sim," Eric spoke up, "which means that either Jeanine awoke the sim on a selection of us or she tried to put all of us in the sim but it failed for half of us."

"But it doesn't make any sense," Victr cut him, "why wouldn't it work on all of us. It did a few days ago. And I damn know that I'm not a divergent."

"Yes," Eric said, "I've been thinking about it. I believe it may be because some of us have already eliminated the serum from our bodies."

"What the hell?" Victr frowned.

"Exactly," Will ignored the leader, "I thought so too. But we can't be sure because her goal could be us killing each other. And in that case, awakening the serum in half of us is enough."

Tris spoke up, "Yes but if it was the case, she could have also put all of us under the sim and make us kill each other through the sim. It would have been smarter because in that way, none of us is able to defend and fight back."

"Good thinking Tris," Eric nodded, "and we have different metabolisms; that's for sure. So we can erase the possibility of Jeanine targeting half of us. She probably tried on all of us."

"Does it mean that some of us have stronger bodies? Like they fought back the substance in the end?" Tris frowned.

"Yes! With a more efficient immunity system, all the active molecules of the serum would have been destroyed or eliminated by now!" Will explained excitedly.

"I see," Tris nodded, "in that case, I think that-"

"What the hell are you on about?" Victr exclaimed.

Tris, Eric and Will turned to the rest of the dauntless members; they were all scowling at them, having not understood a single word of their argument and Christina even snorted.

They heard Uriah chuckling, "Man, I see why you got Erudite, Tris. I didn't get anything that he said."

"Well it's not much," she tried to explain, "if you had paid attention in biology last year it would have understood too."

"You got Erudite?" Eric smiled proudly at her she grinned back.

"So," Victr cleared his throat, "what do we do?"

"We have no choice," Eric answered, "we're going to Erudite."

"Why so?" Christina crossed her arms.

"Because we destroyed the program in Dauntless. It means that Jeanine has found a way to control the sim from Erudite."

"I don't understand why she didn't do that in the first place," Will frowned, "it seems like there's a flaw in her former plan. No one could have stopped the simulation if she had installed the program in her own computers."

"I'm the flaw in her former plan," Eric said, "she trusted me." He glanced at Tris and she remembered his confession. He had told her that he always had a privileged position with Jeanine.

"Yes but-" Will began.

"She also didn't want to stain her image. With Dauntless leading the attack, she was saved of the hate."

"Point taken," Will agreed.

"Anyway, how do we get out?" Victr asked his fellow leader.

Tris was afraid that they had to barge in the Pit and simply take the main exit; because if they did, there would probably be more wounded and deaths.

"Tear gas," Eric spoke up. Tris didn't know what it was but she didn't like the name nor the expression Will was sporting.

"That's cruel," the latter frowned and Tris didn't miss Christina triumphant smile.

"Would you prefer them with bullet wounds and potential deaths or watering eyes and coughing fits?" Eric asked in his authoritarian tone.

Will opened his mouth and then clamped it close without saying a word.

"What the hell is a tear gas?" Victr cursed, "Will it work?"

Will spoke up gloomily, "It's a gas that is usually spread with grenades in order to split crowds or so. Anyway it provokes the lachrymal glands, though it can also provoke nausea and irritate the lungs-"

"In other words," Eric cut him, "it will make the victims cough and it will temporarily attack their eyes so that they won't be able to see. We'll wear masks, of course. Throw the grenades and run."

"Thanks for the explanation but why does he say it's cruel?"

"Because it'll hurt their eyes even if it's temporarily," Will complained, "and some are even allergic to the gas-"

"It's rare to be allergic, alright?" Eric sighed.

"Then let's do it," Victr said.

Without more waiting, they warily stepped out of the training room led by both Eric and Victr.

The weaponry was in fact behind the huge metallic reinforced door at the end of the corridor. And according to Eric, it was just one of the few weaponry points in the compound; he said there was one at each area of the compound.

He entered a code to unlock the massive door under Victr's avid gaze.

"Rave was supposed to show me the code," he said quietly with excitement. Tris thought he looked like a child.

When the door opened, Eric led the group to a particularly long shelf and handed each one of them a gas mask.

"I've always wanted to wear one of these," Uriah said dreamily at Tris's side.

"We'll check on each one of you that you know how to wear it safely," Victr told the group, "so just put it on now so we can check."

They all did; even though a few of them complained because they already knew how to put the mask.

However it was the first time for Tris and she didn't like the sensation of breathing through that object at all.

When Eric stepped in front of her to verify her mask, she took the opportunity to touch him and brought a hand to his neck and simply stroked the tattoos there, not caring that everyone could see.

"We're gonna be fine," Eric said in a low voice.

She closed her hands into fists; she couldn't help but think back about the man she had shot. Maybe they'll be fine in the end, maybe, but this man was going to die, if he wasn't dead already.

"Tris," Eric said sternly and it startled her because he never used that tone on her anymore. It was the voice he used right before he yelled at them during initiation. "Focus. I mean it. If you let your emotions in control of yourself you don't know what'll happen. Focus, please."

He removed the mask from her face and leaned his forehead against hers. And he whispered very softly so that only she could hear, "I don't want to lose you."

After that, with the help of Victr and a few experimented ones, he had to inspect the masks of everyone else. Then he led them to a tank made of fabric and metallic bars where he picked what everyone recognized as grenades and some sort of large guns with the extremity in the shape of a tube.

"What's this shit?" someone asked.

"Cougar launcher," Will blurted out the words as he recognized the device.

"What the hell?" Victr scowled at him, "Are you sure you're not an Erudite? It's the tenth time you've spoked weird things today."

Eric laughed at this and Tris wondered if he wasn't actually recognizing himself in her Erudite friend.

"But he's right," he said, "it's a launcher. Some books call it a _cougar_. More importantly, this shit will allow us to throw the grenades from a great distance."

"Two hundred meters," Will startled Tris by whispering it in her ear. "What?" he asked incredulously when he noticed her glare.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Because if I say it out loud Victr will mock me!" he hissed back.

"Listen up!" Eric raised his voice slightly, "only the experimented soldiers among us will be given the charge of shooting the grenades."

"But I've never used a- a _cookie_ _launcher_ before," Victr complained, oblivious of Will's snort, "Max makes us throw the grenades by hand when we need it."

"You'll see it's the same as firing any heavy gun."

Determined, the small army walked out of the weaponry and headed to the Pit, armed and ready.

A few meters before, they had to put on the masks to protect themselves against the lachrymal gas; Tris did it with numb hands, her heart pumping rapidly in anticipation.

The soldiers charged of the grenades and the launchers took the front of the formation and at Eric's signal, they all sent flying grenades towards different directions, mostly where their robotic friends were.

Tris didn't know what she was expecting but she was surely waiting for loud noises and explosions; after all it was grenades! Though when they clanked on the floor, they each rolled around and released a white cloud.

A second later Eric was shouting at them to run forward and her legs obeyed without her consideration. She found herself sprinting to the steep stairs all the while glancing at the unconscious fellow soldiers; they were trembling –not coughing, not closing their eyes because the stinging pain they must have felt. But no –because they were unconscious, they could not decide to close their eyes or even cough or run away to protect themselves. It was a horrible scene.

She steeled herself, hearing Eric's voice in her head; _Focus._

She could only hope that the gas would dissipate quickly to shorten the suffering. At least they wouldn't die or sport hard-to-heal injuries later.

They all made it safely to the train; Eric's plan had worked beautifully.

The trip to Erudite passed in unbearable tension; all of them were scared to discover what was waiting for them.

What they didn't expect was that no-one was going to attack them there. It is exactly what happened.

Erudite members dressed in their conventional blue suits watched them barge through the doors of Jeanine Matthews's research center, but they didn't react. They just stopped in their tracks and stared.

Tris, Eric and the other dauntless members glanced at each other with uncertainty as they climbed the escalators.

It was a trap. That thought came through all of their minds. They knew it was strange that no one was there to attack, they knew it was dangerous, but they had no choice at this point.

So they continued their way to Jeanine's office, at the last floor, walking with their weapons at the ready behind Eric.

Tris chose to follow close behind him; she was the second one in order.

Automatic glass doors opened for them, leading them to a large corridor leading to black double doors. The doors to the office were at arm's length from Eric.

He glanced back at Tris and then everyone else and then he opened and this time, to her relief, he darted to the side where she believed it was safer.

That's when it happened. The doors closed. Right at her nose.

Her eyes widened.

"No," she whispered.

She pumped her fists on the hard surface of the door. "No!" she screamed, "Eric!"

A strange noise came to her ears; it was from the ceilings in the corridor. She turned around and watched with horror an orange gas being spread from the ceiling; and a quick glance further confirmed that the sliding glass doors weren't opening either. They were trapped in a box at the mercy of this orange gas that was probably lethal.

She panicked, clamping her hands on her nose to attempt to block the substance for penetrating her body and she shut her eyes closed.

Soon the thick gas had filled the entire corridor –box.

What did Jeanine do to Eric? She allowed herself to think about him. After all she was close to her death once more and no one could save her or her friends in the box.

If her hands weren't obstructing her mouth and nose she would have laughed out loud.

She should think about her parents, not Eric; that's what people are supposed to do before they die, right?

Was her chest hurting? Since when? Oh it was simply her heart beating painfully fast.

She had to breathe also; she was lacking oxygen. She let go of her nose and mouth and took large gulfs of air.

It smelled strangely.

But wasn't she supposed to die?

She heard another noise; it sounded like an aspirator.

She let her eyes open slowly.

The orange clouds were being absorbed back by the ceiling.

She was able to see everyone else lying scattered on the floor; except for one.

"Uriah!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide. He looked as struck as her; apparently he had also thought the gas would kill him.

Then she quickly crouched and pressed two fingers against the neck of Christina who was lying on her side at Tris's feet.

"She's alive," she laughed nervously, "they're alive!"

"I bet it has to do with being divergent."

She didn't have the time to answer, the doors to the office clicked open and she instantly whipped around, her rifle already pointed.

There was one man, an Erudite and he stumbled forward as he shouted in pain; Tris had shot his foot.

Uriah kicked him harshly on the side of the head and he fell unconscious at their feet.

The pair glanced at each other before darting to the open door in perfect synchronization and into the office.

They were welcomed by startled exclamations and soon enough strong hands closed around their arms, forcing them on their back harshly.

Soldiers pointed their guns at Tris and Uriah. Someone shot at Tris and she fell to her knees, her arms still trapped against her back by another soldier. A foreign pain shot through her right thigh; it was making her limb tremble and uncontrollably. Peering down, she found out with dread and disgust the bullet wound in her leg. She clenched her fists in her back, and ground her teeth.

"Wait!" Jeanine ordered and held up a hand, "Well well, who do we have here? Beatrice Prior. Why does it seem you are always involved?"

She was standing in the middle of the huge office, surrounded by men dressed in black.

"Don't shoot them, yet."

"Don't you want to know how I got your faction to kill themselves?" she smiled at them. "Let's just say that any good scientist keep tracks of his work. You should know that, Eric," she turned her head to the side and Tris felt her heart jump painfully. There he was, on his knees too and she noticed that his wrists were joined at the back with heavy cuffs.

"When you destroyed my precious program," Jeanine continued, "yes I was furious, but I wasn't discouraged," she chuckled, "in fact I was dying to get my vengeance. After all, my right hand man had betrayed me!" she roared, panted and then smiled softly. "I just had to re-write the program from the drafts and I made a copy. Simple, isn't it? Unfortunately for me it took me longer than I would have liked and the serum was still ingested only by a few of you."

"Stop this madness, Jeanine!" Tris shouted.

"Don't waste your saliva, you know I won't. Will you tie them?" she asked the dauntless traitors.

"When everyone who could come in my way will be dead, I will direct your soldiers back to Abnegation and finish the work where they left it a few days ago. It's too bad, Eric, we could have ruled the factions together."

When the Dauntless men tied Tris and Uriah's wrists with electronic cuffs, Jeanine motioned for Eric to sit in one of the chairs in front of her desk. One soldier complied immediately and hauled his former leader to stand his feet.

"Eric, before you try anything reckless against me, just know that one wrong move and Prior dies. Now sit."

He had no choice but to obey; he allowed himself to at least cast her the most aggressive glare he could do.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you yet. I plan to make you suffer and pay for your treason." She stepped in front of him and slapped him hard, making his head jerk to the side.

"Look at me!" Jeanine thundered and then she grabbed his chin. "I will make you suffer. Do you hear me, dear?"

"No! Leave him alone!" Tris cried.

"Shut up, Prior!" she shouted and then continued in a very soft and gentle voice, "I am really disappointed in you, Eric. I trained you, you owe me so much. I never failed you and here you are now, with the _traitors_. You dared to counteract my plans while _I had so much faith in you_."

She pointed her small gun at Eric and her hands trembled. The room went silent as they gaped at Jeanine. She had made a small whimpering noise that sounded like she was crying; but they all believed that she couldn't cry, they thought she was making desperate sounds. Only Eric could see the tears filling her eyes and the hurt in them. The sight of Jeanine like this scared him; she looked broken, even madder than usual.

"Jeanine?" he whispered with uncertainty.

"I can't kill you," she dropped her arms and let herself lean over his chair and forward until her forehead was resting against Eric's shoulder. She snuggled her face here and dropped to her knees so that she was resting completely against him.

She didn't care that Eric was stiff as a statue, Tris noticed. Even from where she was, Tris could see was horrified Eric was. And the more she looked at them, the more she was struck by Jeanine's behavior; and a thought nudging her brain more and more strongly by the second.

"You love him," she found herself speaking out oud.

Jeanine jerked away from him, her head snapped to Tris.

"I know you do," Tris said softly as she could read the pain and heartbreak in the woman's eyes.

"Max, why don't you kill our favorite initiate Beatrice," Jeanine's voice took a colder tone.

"No!" Eric yelled and was rewarded with another burning slap from Jeanine.

"Shut up, dear," she said gently while stroking his traumatized cheek, "it'll be over soon."

"Stop fucking touching me!" Eric roared and tried to stand up but with his hands bound at his back he lost his balance and fell back in the chair when Jeanine shoved him.

"I know you don't mean it," she murmured but he struggled against her trying to keep his cheek away from her caressing hand and she raised her voice, "You leave me no choice!"

Eric screamed in pain; she had shot his foot.

"No!" Tris screeched.

"Kill her! Kill her now!" Jeanine ordered.

But a loud gun fire resonated in the room, silencing everyone. They all turned their heads to the doors where a young man dressed in grey and black stood proudly, a rifle in his hands.

Tris recognized Tobias and let out a strangled noise.

"I don't think so," he said and a sea of men and women, all armed, came through the doors. They were all dressed with clothes of different colors and everyone knew they were factionless.

_A factionless army_. Relief flooded in Tris's veins; she almost smiled.

"You're alive!" she shouted over the gunfire as Tobias was struggling with her cuffs.

"I think I am," he laughed and finally managed to remove the electronic cuffs.

"How did you do?" she asked as she tried to stand up from her kneeling position but whimpered in pain. With great effort, she managed to stand up fully, favoring her right leg over the left.

"You're wounded!"

"Yes but-"

She was cut by high pitched screeches from where Jeanine was. Tris's eyes found her in a very uncoordinated and feminine fight with a thin factionless woman with black hair. Eric was trying to stand up from the chair, struggling with his shot foot.

Tris's gaze swiped over the room to notice with great relief that the factionless army had almost neutralized the small number of dauntless traitor soldiers.

Then her eyes came back on the desk were Eric was leaning on, wincing in pain.

"Four! How did you un-cuff me? We need to help Eric!" she told him nervously.

Another high pitched scream caught back her attention to Jeanine.

The black-haired woman had shoved Jeanine away to stumble on the marble floor, clutching her ankle and was running to the large screens in front of the desk.

"Evelyn, you bitch!" Jeanine yelled desperately at the woman.

Eric had finally managed to stand without the help of the desk and was limping toward Tris. But it didn't go unnoticed by Jeanine and in a desperate move, she crawled to Eric, dug her fingers in the bullet wound on his foot and he let out a scream and they ended sprawled on the floor.

Jeanine straddled him and gave him weak punches on the chest.

"It's all _your_ fault!" she cried.

She was _crying_. Jeanine was crying. She had completely lost her mind. Eric didn't even have the time to think or be scared by her mad eyes that she was already pointing her gun at his forehead.

"Your fault. Your fault," she was repeating like a mantra.

Tris sprouted into action. Eric was not dying, she wouldn't let it happen. She tried to run to them but her wounded thigh shot excruciating pain through her and only resulting in making her stumble.

But she wasn't done. She stood back up, clinging on Tobias's clothes for support and grabbed one of the knives tucked in his leg pocket.

She didn't think. She just aimed at Jeanine and watched as the blade plunged in the flesh of her white hand, right between her bones. The woman howled in pain and dropped her gun. She removed the blade with a trembling hand.

The amount of blood pouring from her wound and staining Eric's chest below and captivated her gaze.

Eric watched the way her eyes were focused with horror and fascination on her hand. Her gaze finally moved from the blood to Tris.

Then there was another gun fire, Jeanine let out a gurgling sound and her body limply fell forward on Eric.

Evelyn was standing behind, her chest heaving, both of her hands pointing the gun at arm's length toward Jeanine's body where a dark stain was forming on the back of her blue suit jacket.

Tris half limped, half crawled to Eric and with numb hands, she pushed the body of the blond woman away from Eric.

And when she was satisfied with the body lying at a large meter away from him, she crawled back to him and clawed at his shoulder, helping him sit up and then flinging her arms around him, crying on the warmth of his neck.

Jeanine was dead.

Her body shook in sobs and a second later she realized that his shoulders were also shaking. Tris lifted up her face and saw his through her tears.

His cheeks were stained with tears. His eyebrows turned in a way she had never seen on him and he was biting his lip so tightly that when she passed her thumb on his chin and he let go of his lip she watched the blood flow back in the whitened flesh.

Eric was crying.

For the first time she managed to stop herself from sobbing; she wanted to console him.

His grey eyes locked on hers and she understood. He had been scared. And for once she was the one who had to stay strong.

She realized that he had been holding back his emotions for so long and couldn't imagine how it must have felt to be practically hugged and cooed by the mad woman and then having a gun pointed at his forehead.

"It's okay," she whispered, "you're fine."

As she stroked the side of his face, she leaned forward so that her lips were touching his ear and whispered, "You've been so brave. You can cry. You can cry."

She heard him gasp and make small noises against her neck; it broke her heart. She held him there, her hand combing through his long hair and just let him cry. At one point she silently thanked Four when he approached Eric from behind and put a small black box against his cuffs; it was beeping and a second later, it clicked open. As soon as he was free, Eric slid his arms around Tris and held very tightly.

They just sat there, ignoring the rest of the world.

They didn't notice the factionless rushing around them, taking Jeanine's body with them, taking the dauntless traitors prisoners and walking out while Evelyn and Tobias sat in front of the computers.

They didn't care that they were wounded in the thigh or in the feet or wherever.

The only thing that mattered was that they were together and that they were allowed to let go of the tension.

"We're fine," Tris whispered in his ear yet again.

.

* * *

**AN:** Guys! This is it! The next chapter will be the last!

The lyrics at the beginning were from _Explosions_, by Ellie Goulding.

Anyway I hope that one was up to your expectations and I have to say I'm pretty proud of what I've done with Jeanine. She even creepier. I was a bit frightened when I wrote the last scene because I was picturing it so clearly and damn my Jeanine is so so so so creepy *shudders*

About Eric crying; some of you may disagree but I think we shouldn't forget that he's just an eighteen-year-old boy. And it's probably the first time that he allowed himself to cry since he was fourteen. He's been strong for too long and the landscape of Hell just fell and Jeanine was damn scary at her last moments.

And ugh. Isn't Eric a cutie in the last scene? He's so sweet. Lucky for me he can't read this message because if he did-

**Eric** "Who called me cute?"

**Me** "Shit!"

**Me** *posts chapter as quickly as possible, closes laptop and runs for her life*

* * *

**AN (September 6th)** Hey guys, I'm so sorry I've been really busy these past two weeks and I will be the coming week too :( I wrote a little bit yesterday but I didn't have enough time to finish. I know the main plot is wrapped up but it's still important for me that you read one last chapter. I hope when that last chapter will be posted some of you will still be interested in the story.

I find myself re-reading the first chapters when I'm in the bus and cringe at the English mistakes or lack of description. I know there has to be mistakes in the last chapters too but I do believe that I have made a lot of progress and that my writing is better now. What I'm trying to say is that when this story will be completed, I will edit every chapter and update them! I can't let a beta do that work for me because like I said, in some scenes there's just a real lack of description and I need to write that myself.

There's also a tiny little problem; I've just realized that I've been calling Raze; "Rave". I apologize for that, his real name is Raze and I will edit the mistakes at a later date.

Also I will continue to write the genitive like this: "Tris's eyes". I still don't know the real way to write it because everyone gives me different answers. I even emailed my old high school English teacher and she told me to write it "Tris' eyes" but she wasn't even sure. So yeah... If anyone happens to have a degree in English and feel confident in their knowledge of the language, please do reveal me the truth! XD

Now that I've said what I needed to; Bye!

And please be patient for the next update (If anyone happens to read this new AN).


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

.

"Look who's there!" Eric and Tris heard with dread Uriah chanting over the loud noise of the cafeteria. "It's the limping couple!" he yelled louder than ever and the whole compound erupted in laughter, all watching the couple making their way to Eric's usual table.

Indeed both of them were forced to walk around with the help of crutches, under the order of Katie, the head of Infirmary; Tris because of her wounded right thigh and Eric because of the foot Jeanine had shot.

They glared at Uriah as they continued to limp to their table, their crutches thankfully silent against the floor.

"Fuck off!" Tris yelled at no one in particular. She was in an extremely bad mood because it was the first time she had to walk with crutches and had just discovered how hard it was. The hard knobs were exercising too much pressure against her palms which were by now red and painful.

As she sat down she practically tossed her crutches down and gave the finger at Uriah who was still laughing greedily.

"Calm down," Eric said in his deep voice as he sat down beside her and settled a hand at the small of her back as soon as his hands were free of the crutches. When Tris sighed heavily and focused on her swollen hands, massaging them, he glared pointedly at Uriah waiting for him to notice his stare. And when he did, Eric made a deadly gesture with his other hand. He smirked when the younger boy suddenly choked on his laugh, paled and warned everyone at his table with large arm gestures.

He stroked her back with his thumb, "Look Uriah stopped laughing. It's fine, everyone's back to their food."

Tris looked up and sighed in relief.

"Let's just eat and then hide somewhere," she muttered.

"We're Dauntless, we don't hide," Eric shot back as he took a huge bite of his meat.

"So I'm not a Stiff anymore?" she raised an eyebrow in defiance.

"Of course not," he moved so that his thigh was right against hers and he placed an innocent hand on her knee. He smiled triumphantly when he got the reaction he wanted; her cheeks were visibly coloring and she gulped. Then leaning close to her ear, he whispered, "you're not a Stiff; just _my _Stiff."

She jerked her head away and he laughed.

.

When the couple finished their lunch, Tris caught sight of Tobias and called him over their table, ignoring Eric's rude comment.

"How are you doing, Tris?" He asked her when he reached their table.

"Such a Stiff," Eric muttered under his breath so that only Tris could hear him. She elbowed him hard and smiled.

"I'm fine, Four. I didn't really get to see you since- uh" she trailed off.

"Yeah, well, I was busy. Do you think we could hang out somewhere? I mean, I've got nothing to do right now."

Tris glanced at Eric in worry; she didn't know how he would take it if she just went away with Four.

"I don't care," he said roughly as if he'd read her thoughts. "I've got something to do anyway," he added while he fumbled at his sides to take a hold of his crutches.

Tris gripped his wrist to gain back his attention. _Don't be like that_, she wanted to tell him but she was afraid he wouldn't like it.

"I'll meet you after that?" she asked softly.

He sighed when he saw the hope in her eyes and nodded. "Where will you be? We won't take long; I just want to talk to him."

"Try the leaders meeting room," he murmured, "if I'm not there, check home." Tris felt a blush creep up her cheeks as she watch Eric limping away. _Home_. She didn't know if he meant it as _his_ home or-

"Can we go somewhere else?" Four cut her thoughts.

She shook her head, "Sure."

Tobias was patient as they walked to the Pit; Tris was moving at a slow pace, stopping one time to massage her red palms for a moment. They settled not too far, in a corner of the Pit.

"I never had the chance to thank you," she spoke first.

"For what?"

"You helped me. You always help me. And I'm really glad you're alive. I watched your body crumple to the ground and really believed that-" She stopped in mid-sentence, "What happened?"

"I wasn't exactly shot. The bullet grazed my thigh and- and like a novice I stumbled and hit my head on a rock in the process," he grumbled.

Tris couldn't help but let out aloud laugh at that. That was so ridiculous. Here she had been thinking that boy was dead when in fact he had stumbled and fucking knocked himself out. "You stupid-" she hit him on the shoulder, "stupid jerk."

"Hey. It's kind of humiliating. Don't laugh."

"Of course I'm going to laugh. Do you know how much I was scared? And oh God. I was _mourning_ you. I hate you so much."

The fell into a comfortable silence after that; Tris still had trouble to comprehend the situation and Tobias was trying to hide his blush. He was embarrassed that the blond girl now knew what a novice he had been when he was supposed to protect her.

"You _stumbled_," she murmured disbelievingly.

The dark-haired boy cleared his throat. "So, you alright? I mean, your wound?"

"I'm fine. Still trying to figure out how to walk with crutches without hurting my hands but otherwise I'm good. Eric is fine too. I think his foot will be all new before my thigh."

"Tris you know what I think of him, right?"

It was tempting to roll her eyes or clench her fist in anger but she forced herself to stay calm. After all, Four was a friend and she was so glad that he was alive. She sighed. "Yes, Four, I know and I won't change my mind," she said softly.

"Then you must know what I think about you and him being a couple," he clenched his jaw at the last word.

"You know I won't change my mind," she repeated, "but please, try to see him differently."

"You don't know how he was before you came up!"

"No and I don't fucking care! What's the matter with you? Why should we focus on the past? He is what he is now and it's all that I care about!"

"Tris-"

"No! You shut up and listen for once! Did he kill me like you said he would? You're smart, Four! You're not like the others, you actually think. So try to chuck out your resentment and feelings for him just for a minute and consider everything that he's done the past few days!"

She was so annoyed at Four that she hadn't noticed Christina heading toward them. Her chest heaving, she startled when she heard Christina's voice.

"No you listen, Tris," the dark-skinned girl crossed her arms over her chest, "you're just upset that someone else sees Eric for what he is. A sadistic manipulator. That's what he is. He's manipulated you!"

"Christina," Four put a hand on her shoulder, "I think you're wrong."

Tris's hopeful eyes snapped back to Four.

"Just because I hate him doesn't mean that I think Tris is stupid. She hasn't been manipulated or anything." He looked back at her, ignoring the gaping Christina, "I think you just have a heart too big for your own good."

Tris let out a small chuckle at this; she was recognizing the friend Four that she had known before.

"I think you should leave, Christina," he leaned threateningly toward her.

Tris almost burst out laughing when she recalled it was the same tone he had used on Christina the very first day of initiation when she had mocked his nickname. She scooted closer to hug him when Christina had finally left without sparing them of her usual huff.

"Thank you, _Tobias_."

He tugged on her shoulders to see her face. "You remembered. I thought you'd never remember!"

"Actually I never forgot," she smiled, "I just never think about calling you Tobias because I've simply always called you Four."

He laughed, "And what the hell is wrong with Christina? She's being worse than me," he scratched the back of his head.

"I was thinking about it last time and you know, I just think I didn't truly know her before. During initiation it was all about tattoos, shopping and making fun of me. She was never a good friend. But now I know that just because she's the first person I've talked to on the train doesn't mean we _have_ to be friends." Tris knew she was ranting but Tobias was still listening, and it pushed her to continue. "I used to hate when she was upset with me. But then I realized I was better without trying to bond with her. And if she hates Eric that much it's because of the Chasm thing. She hates him because she almost died."

He nudged her, "If I were you, I wouldn't have forgiven him for the knife thing either."

"Technically you're the one who threw the knives at me," she answered cheekily. They laughed for a good minute after that and then Tobias regained his serious composure.

"You know, I won't interfere with you and Eric. It's just hard for me to forget the guy he was during the past years."

"I know," she nodded, "thank you. For trusting me."

"Anytime, _Beatrice_," he said in a very serious voice and just like that he darted away and ran for his life.

"What the- Four! No. Tobias! Say it again! Be a man and face me!"

She stood up as quickly as she could with her crutches.

"Tris!" a woman's voice boomed and when she found the source of the voice, Tris recoiled slightly. It was Katie, the frightening nurse that took care of her thigh. She was sprawled on a rock a few meters away with a man. "Don't even think about it!" she shouted warningly at Tris as she pointed her chin in Tobias's direction.

Tris's shoulders slumped and she groaned in frustration as she watched Tobias running away.

"It's not fair!" She yelled after him.

He only laughed in response; he was already out of the Pit a few seconds later when she decided to head back home instead of struggling to sit back down.

:::::

"You wanted to see us, Eric?"

The five leaders were gathered in their small meeting room. They made an interesting image together, all of them of different appearance and size. Raze was obviously the dominant person in the room and Victr, Katlina and Shaw all looked like youngsters in comparison. It didn't help that Victr had a plate in front of him with several pieces of chocolate cake.

Eric focused for a second on his bandaged foot under the table.

"Well?" Raze said impatiently.

"I'd like to drop my position as leader."

"What?" They chorused, except for Victr who choked on his chocolate cake.

"You heard me," he sighed.

"Wait a minute," Raze held up his hand, "tell me first why you want to drop out?" He was frowning in genuine incomprehension. For a moment Eric felt like a kid having a serious conversation with his father. It was kind of refreshing; being able to count on an adult that wasn't supporting him just for their greatest interest.

Eric thought for a moment about Tris; somehow he always managed to talk openly with her about his feelings. Something he didn't appreciate doing. Hell, he hated talking about feelings. But he knew he had to explain to the four other leaders his torment. So he pushed his ego and his pride back in a corner of his mind for the conversation.

"I don't think I deserve to be at the top of the faction. I've betrayed everyone." He succeeded in holding their gazes while he spoke.

They were silent for a few seconds and then Raze leaned over the table, "You little shit. Then why did you insist on staying in leadership right after you saved the faction from the first attack?"

Eric's eyes widened slightly, "It's not the same!" He shot back. Raze crossed his arms over his chest, his huge muscles bulging in the process, as if to tell the younger man that he was waiting for an explanation. "I had to be at the command," Eric raised his voice, "because I was at the lookout for Jeanine's next attack! You didn't know her how I did! She had such a wicked mind-"

To his surprise, Raze laughed out loud, "I refuse," he said.

"What?"

"I refuse. You're gonna stay leader, kiddo."

"But you can't force me to be a leader!" Eric exclaimed outraged as he stood up not easily with the help of his crutches that were lying at his sides against the chair.

"That's right I can't. I –no, we will let you one more day to decide."

"Dude you saved the whole faction twice, you ought to be a leader," Katlina smiled.

"Damn right," Victr nodded.

"No," Eric ground his teeth, "the first time I failed because Jeanine stroke again later and the second time it was Four who saved everyone."

"Bullshit-"

"Shut up!" Raze sighed, "He's right, we can't force him into leadership if he's so sure about it. _But_ we're leaving you till tomorrow to decide, Eric. Think about it again. I just hope you stay with us four Eric." He stood up and motioned for the others to follow him out of the meeting room, leaving Eric alone, leaning on his crutches in front of the table.

"Man, the faction needs you," Shaw clapped him on the shoulder before following suit and leaving the room.

Raze wasn't surprised at all to find Tris standing right beside the door and when they closed the door, he leaned close.

"Heard everything?"

Tris nodded.

"Then I'm counting on you," he smirked evilly and she couldn't hold back a small chuckle. Raze was very intimidating with his many piercings and bulging muscles but she was glad he was there for Eric. The young leader needed support.

"Don't try to drag me into this; I won't be trying to manipulate him," she smiled, "to me the most important thing is that he forgives himself."

"Shut up, blondie, it's too fucking sentimental for me," Raze said exasperatedly.

Tris snorted and slipped pass him and the other leaders into the meeting room –or rather she limped there on her crutches.

"See you later limpy couple," she heard Victr's voice behind the door she had already closed behind her. Eric looked up immediately and sucked on his lip ring. Surely she had heard the conversation and he hadn't talked to her yet about his intentions to quit his leader responsabilities.

"You're feeling guilty, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered but there was no doubt in his tone that he actually knew exactly what she was insinuating. He was just trying his hardest to avoid more deep talks.

He let himself fall back down on his chair and Tris settled on the one next to his, grunting as she propped up the crutches against the table.

She waited a few seconds, trying to find the best thing to say without infuriating him further.

"Victr came to speak to me earlier." He raised an eyebrow in response and she nodded.

"Said he envies me because I have an 'awesome boyfriend'," she tried not to blush, the conversation was serious and important for him.

"He's not even gay," Eric grumbled.

"That's not the point. He thinks you've saved the faction. Even if it's Tobias who brought the factionless to Erudite, he says they would have failed to do anything without you."

Eric clenched his jaw and looked away. She wondered if he was trying to deny everything that she was saying or if he was embarrassed by the praising.

"When the second attack happened, you organized everyone. We would have panicked without you. You didn't panic. Oh no. You gathered everyone who was aware, you got us out of Dauntless, and thanks to your orders we've avoided a lot of deaths. And then-"

"Alright!" he cut her angrily, "I get it! Just stop."

"Why is it such a problem for you to accept that you've done something good?"

With the glare it earned her from him, she almost wondered if it was a great idea to have said that. But she continued anyway, "You can't reproach yourself everything you've done wrong forever."

"Shut up!" he roared, startling her.

"No!" she yelled back, "You can't! Promise me you'll at least try not to feel guilty!"

"You-"

"Promise me!" she yelled even louder.

His eyes flashed and he was about to shout back but he did a double take when he noticed the tears in her eyes. This shitty conversation was about him, not about her, so why was she crying? She couldn't cry. It just _felt _wrong.

"No," his voice cracked, "why are you crying?"

"Because it pains me!" she snapped, "It pains me that you can't just fucking forgive yourself while everyone else already has. I love you," she finished in a whisper, "I want to see you smile every day. I _hate_ seeing you like this."

He never used his strength on her. But this time he didn't care.

He reached for her and lifted her from her chair, his hands on her waist and then he practically threw her against him.

He kissed her. Angrily. Not hesitating to use his teeth. Then tenderly, brushing away the tears from her cheeks with his lips.

"I love you," she breathed.

He held her gaze and he knew he couldn't say it back. Instead he pressed her closer to his chest.

Tris wasn't disappointed or hurt, she'd expected as much from him. She offered him a smile because at least he had accepted her words and didn't run away.

After some time, they didn't know if it was a few minutes later or an hour later, he spoke up.

"I promise."

"Ok," she whispered; the smile was back on her face.

He watched her eyes in amazement before kissing her again. Soon his lips became more demanding and she parted hers further, allowing his tongue to stroke inside her mouth. She tried to push his tongue away to enter his mouth in her turn; she had never done that before and he growled, his hands on her hips squeezing and she unconsciously ground against his lap when she was finally dominating the kiss.

He was breathing too fast, his lower half could barely stay still on the chair. Eric decided it was best to stop now so he pushed her enough to break the kiss and pressed his nose against her temple to avoid seeing the lust in her eyes. But she took this opportunity to kiss him repeatedly right below his jaw and he groaned at the shiver it caused. She sucked hard between her teeth and tried to find back his mouth, tugging at his hair.

Who would have thought Tris was that demanding?

"No, no, no," his voice rasped, "you've got to stop. I can't."

"Alright," she whispered after a while and snuggled into a more comfortable position for her wounded thigh. He heard her sigh and he hoped she wasn't disappointed. Did she even know the effect she had on him? They really needed to have that conversation about the boundaries of their relationship, he thought.

He clasped his hands together, fully trapping her.

"So Victr says I'm your boyfriend?" he chuckled.

:::::

Later that night they were lying together in bed. It had already become a habit and Eric was parted between thrill and reluctance. Each morning he had to sneak to the bathroom without waking her up for uncomfortable reasons. He just wished she would notice soon that it was a torture for him.

"Eric?"

"Hm?"

Tris seemed to ponder her question for a few seconds, "Do you think there's a way for me to know if my parents are alive?" When he didn't answer right away, she thought it was annoying him and ducked her face. "Forget it. I shouldn't have asked."

"Don't apologize," Eric murmured and brought her body even closer to him. If he wasn't answering her, it was because his mind was racing. An idea was forming in his head and he pretended to fall asleep so that he could avoid her question.

::::

Eric walked to the man he recognized as Andrew Prior; Tris's father.

"Excuse me, Sir? Can we have a word in private?"

"Sir? You seem really polite for a dauntless boy," he answered but followed the young man to a corner of the huge government meeting hall.

"Politeness with politicians is insurance for future situations."

"And so honest," Andrew raised his eyebrows.

Eric pressed his lips together to suppress a smile, "I can, with you."

"I'm sorry?"

"Sir," he regained his seriousness, "I wanted to tell you and your wife that Tris is safe. I mean, Beatrice. She's safe."

Andrew's eyes widened for a moment and his lips parted in a stunned silence. Then he reached out for Eric's shoulder and squeezed it. "Thank you," his voice was full of emotions, "my wife will be so relieved. Please send our love to Beatrice," he whispered.

"I could."

Andrew seemed taken aback by Eric's answer but he regained his composure quickly. "I-I understand if you cannot talk to her about her family. Faction before blood." He nodded as if to convince himself of the motto.

"I wanted to bring her with me but she was wounded during the war and it's tricky to take the train with crutches. I myself struggled on the way here."

"She's wounded?" Andrew's eyes widened in horror at the thought of what could have happened to his daughter to be forced to move around with crutches.

"She's fine," Eric quickly added, "She was shot in the thigh. But she has been very strong."

The older man paused for a second and he hesitated before asking, "What are you to my daughter?"

When Eric couldn't find his words at the question, Andrew's eyes narrowed as he analyzed the boy's appearance; his gaze particularly lingered on the many piercings, the tattoo on the neck and the long and messy hair.

"Careful, young man," he pointed his index finger in front of him, "we will see each other again and if I _ever_ hear you've done _anything_ to harm my Beatrice-"

"I'd never hurt Tris!" Eric blushed at his protest and cursed inwardly; he rarely blushed and he hated not being in control. "Anyway," he cleared his throat, "I have a proposition for you."

:::::

"What the hell is that huge backpack?" Eric asked incredulously as he sat up on his bed. "You can't strain yourself," he added reproachfully.

"I know but I had to." Tris struggled to close the door of the apartment behind her. She still had to move around with crutches unlike Eric. Katie had warned him to be extremely careful and ordered him not to work out for a few weeks but at least he was allowed to walk.

"What's in it?" He eyed the backpack.

Tris limped to his couch and removed the indeed huge backpack from her shoulders, tossing it there. She murmured something under her breath but it was so low he couldn't understand.

"What?"

She repeated in the same tone, pointedly avoiding his gaze.

"Tris, I won't hear you if you keep talking like that," he said as he scooted to the ledge of his bed.

"Just all my stuff," she snapped angrily, a hot flush creeping up her face. _Adorable_ wasn't a word in his vocabulary; he had promised himself he would never say it before. But it was exactly the word that bubbled up in his mind. "Already tired of wearing my clothes?" he asked smugly.

"Oh shut up."

"I called Raze and the guys in a meeting earlier," he said suddenly serious.

Her face brightened up for a second but she quickly tried not to look too hopeful. "And what did you tell them?"

"I'm keeping my title."

An ear-splitting grin made its way on Tris's face. She limped to the bed and tried to hug him but she ended up giving him a blow in the shin with one of her crutches. He grunted in pain and threw her crutches away.

"Eric!" she complained.

"You almost broke my bone. Can't let you have weapons."

"Weapons? I'm sorry I have to move around with these fucking sticks! Get them back."

"And have you hit me again? No thanks."

"I can't walk!"

"You won't need to walk," he said suggestively and slipped his arms around her torso to bring her into a hug.

:::::

"Come with me?"

"Where?" she frowned.

"Just my office."

"What for?" her frown deepened.

"Come on, you'll see," he smiled.

They progressed slowly to Eric's office; he stopped in front of his door and leaned down slightly to cradle her hand in one of his. "There's something for you," he said in his deep voice and she swore she could see a faint blush tainting his cheeks. "You have to go in without me, though."

She opened her mouth to protest but he cut her. "No questioning allowed, initiate." She pursed her lips but still found it funny that he called her _initiate_ and in the right tone; the frightening one that he used during initiation.

"Yes, _Sir_."

He grinned in response and gently bumped his forehead against hers before leaning back and motioning for her to enter the office. That she did, after they exchanged amused glances.

"Oh my God," she breathed.

There, in front of a desk stood two persons; a couple dressed in grey Abnegation clothes.

The relief was so strong that she thought her heart would burst. She pressed her palms to her face and let out a strangled laugh; she didn't even register when her crutches cluttered on the floor. "Mom. Dad." She looked up at them; her mother had her arms wide open and her father was smiling proudly at her.

Her mother strode to her and Tris let herself fell into her arms, closing her own around her in return. She laughed again and unwrapped only one arm to tug at her father and they ended up in a family hug.

"There's no words to tell you how proud of you we are," Andrew whispered, "you have been very selfless."

"And very brave," Natalie added softly.

"That's not true," Tris pulled herself from her parents arms, trying to put most of her weight on her good leg.

"Nonsense. It has been announced during the last government meeting that the young Dauntless leader and Tobias Eaton were the saviors of the war," Andrew explained.

"And that young man Eric told us he couldn't have done it without you," Natalie stroked her cheek.

Tris huffed, "Eric's exaggerating!"

"By the way," her father narrowed his eyes, "what on earth is going on between you and that tattooed hooligan?"

Tris blushed furiously, not knowing what to answer; she certainly wasn't expecting any question about their relationship from her parents. Natalie started to giggle and it only worsened Tris's embarrassment. She thanked her mother when she bent to give her back her crutches. "I-" she stuttered but couldn't find what words to choose next.

"Leave her alone, Andrew. And I have a tattoo myself."

"You do?" her daughter's eyes widened.

"It's not the same!" Andrew protested as he scowled at his wife. "You do not have your face pierced," he continued, "and have you seen his hair?" he exclaimed.

"I think he's a great boy," she cut him and it was the first time that Tris witnessed an argument between her parents. She could now imagine her mother at Dauntless with less trouble; she could picture a younger version of Natalie with long untied hair, black clothes without sleeves or turtleneck, her tattoo revealed.

"And you know it," Natalie continued, "he saved the faction _and_ your daughter."

"He keeps saving me," Tris confirmed with a blush, "he means a lot to me."

Andrew glared at the wall, "I just want the best for you, Beatrice."

"Thank you, Dad," she squeezed his hand, "you too, Mom."

"I love you," she smiled warmly at Tris.

"I'll keep an eye on him during the government meetings."

"Dad!" she sighed. "What is your tattoo, Mom?"

"Wings," she smiled proudly, "it's inked on my back and arms."

"It's beautiful," Andrew whispered but then blushed and coughed uncomfortably. It made his wife and Tris laugh at him. Just then, the door opened Eric entered his office quietly; they all turned to him with a smile on their faces.

"They should head back soon, Tris," he said gruffly.

"Wait," she turned to her parents, "do you know if Caleb-" she trailed.

"We saw him."

"He came to us when the attack happened."

"So he didn't participate in it?" she whispered, her eyes wide with fear.

"No, darling."

She sighed heavily and passed a hand through her hair. "That's- that's great."

"But he decided to stay in Erudite."

Tris nodded. Of course; even if Jeanine used to lead the faction, it didn't mean that all Erudite members were of wicked mind. Some of them must still believe in their original value; intelligence.

"Tris," Eric called again.

"He's right darling," Natalie sighed, "I have no excuse to be here in the first place; I'm not from the government."

"Thank you so much," Tris turned to Eric, her voice full of emotion. They stared at each other for too long and startled when Natalie cleared her throat, a wicked glint in her eyes. Her husband though didn't find the situation funny; he glared at the young man.

Tris found that her parents departed too soon; after more hugs and words of love, they left the compound, escorted by Eric.

She settled herself behind his desk and waited for his return. She didn't find it in her to limp back to the apartment with the crutches so soon.

:::::

In the end Tris had fallen asleep tucked safely in Eric's desk chair. That's how the young leader had found her when he came back to dauntless. The trip to Abnegation had taken longer than he'd wished; as soon as he'd escorted the Priors back to their home, he had been held back with Andrew by a few members of the Government from Abnegation and they'd engaged into yet another heated debate about the future of the factionless.

When he came back to Dauntless the sky was already dark and he was alarmed when he found his apartment empty. It was very late, though it didn't keep most of the faction from drinking and celebrating in the Pit; but Eric knew Tris. He knew she wasn't one to mingle in drinking games or whatever. That's why he didn't bother to search for her there but he headed straight for the control room.

"What do you want?" Tobias inquired as soon as the long-haired boy pushed open the doors of the control room. He rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his long hair messy from the wind.

"You're not celebrating with the others, Four?"

"Isn't it obvious enough?"

"Such a Stiff," Eric muttered even if he knew he had no right to mock him because Tris was avoiding drinking games as much as Four was. But anyway. It was Four.

"If you're just here to spite me then please leave."

"Not everyone is interested in your person, Four. I need to look up at the camera footages."

Tobias knew that he had no choice but to help; Eric was a leader and he had more respect for him since the war.

"What are you looking for?" He turned in his chair to look at the screens.

"Tris. I can do it myself."

"Come on, it's my job," Tobias sighed. Eric didn't protest; he was tired after an afternoon of debating with Government members and wanted to sleep and wished Tris hadn't disappeared because the stress was tiring him even more. He just needed to find Tris.

"There," Tobias pointed not a minute later, "your office."

Eric exhaled in relief; he wondered for a second why Tris was still in his office but at least she was fine.

"She's asleep I think," Tobias leaned closer to the screen. "Her neck must hurt; it's not really a comfortable position to sleep in."

Eric hit him lightly on the shoulder, "Stop watching her!"

It was a surprise to the both of them when Tobias let out a genuine laugh. It was without a doubt the first time that they were civil with each other. Eric couldn't help but smile in return. "I'm serious," he added for good measure.

"Yeah, yeah. Go find her."

When he was at the door, Eric looked back and gave him a tight smile. "Thanks." Tobias nodded.

The young leader walked to his office as he wasn't allowed to jog –Katie's orders- and took the time to close the door quietly behind him when he found the indeed sleeping Tris in his chair. He walked silently to her and crouched down in front of her.

He would have carried her to his apartment but he was too tired, not to mention that his foot was just healed. He stroked her cheek until her eyes fluttered open. She smiled and stretched lazily. "What time is it?" her voice rasped.

"Don't know. But I want to go to sleep."

She grinned and reached for him, "Hug first."

Eric avoided her hands and stoop up. He walked to the door, a smile on his lips. "Come and get it."

Tris gaped at him. "But I'm injured!"

"I guess you'll have to work harder to catch me, then."

"Eric!"

"Come on I want to go home."

Tris was upset but she followed him anyway; they walked a slow pace because of her crutches.

Eventually they arrived home and the first thing Eric did was shedding off his clothes and quickly putting sweats on to spare Tris from embarrassment. Then he sprawled on top of the sheets and sighed in relief.

"Fuck. Sleep," he murmured.

"You're such a kid when you want."

"Sleep."

Tris emerged from the bathroom changed into one of Eric's largest shirt so that it could cover most of her thighs. "What took you so long to come back?" She asked and lay beside him.

He turned on his side to face her and rolled his eyes. "Guys from the Government. Some of them want to integrate every factionless into each faction. They won't understand that you can't just be part of dauntless without training. But I don't want to fucking talk about it anymore for today."

"You tired?"

"Dead."

The silence that followed was heavy and Eric could feel it. He opened his eyes and frowned at Tris's expression of deep thinking.

"Thank you for bringing my parents here."

Eric smiled softly and nodded. He closed his eyes again but he could feel that something wasn't right.

"What?" his voice rumbled.

"Um?"

"Something's bothering you," he spoke louder and his eyes were alert, the want to sleep completely forgotten.

"It's the war."

Eric nodded to encourage her.

"I feel so bad because I live normally and I even laugh. I can't help but think about that man I shot; I killed him. And then there's like a hundred of wounded, still suffering and here I am living my life like nothing happened and everything was OK. I'm sorry; I know you don't like to talk about it."

"No, don't," he gently pressed his hand on the side of her face to stop her from talking, "I understand." He watched her eyes glistening in the dark room and wondered how it was even possible for him to feel such affection for someone. "Tris. Just because people are dead and others injured doesn't mean that you're not allowed to smile from time to time. In case you've forgotten, you're injured too." He leaned in to kiss her temple.

"I've already told you; we've been in a war. People die in wars. After the war, humanity continues on living. We can't mourn the dead forever."

"I know that-" she trailed, obviously not finding anything to retort.

"You're allowed to be selfish."

"It's my Abnegation side, isn't it?"

"No I don't think it is, actually." He paused for a second to ponder his thoughts. "I think it's normal to feel guilty. I mean, of course you'll feel bad, of course it'll haunt you from time to time. I know what I'm talking about." He paused again and Tris waited, knowing that he wasn't finished and even if the reality of his words hurt her, she had to hear what else he had to say.

"But I know you're not the only one. Half of the faction wasn't under the serum that night. Half of the faction potentially killed someone that night. Imagine. All these individuals, feeling guilty for what they did. We're all in this together, we simply have to move on at one point because we're not murderers and we know no one had a choice."

Tris was left speechless. Her head was empty; she didn't even know what to think. Everything that he said sounded just right. After a moment the only thought that came to her mind was that the amount of respect and affection she felt for that long-haired boy was tremendous.

"Thank you," she said genuinely. They stared at each other in a light silence until Eric moved his arm so that Tris could lay her head on it.

"I'm really glad you where there that night," she whispered.

"What night?"

"The Chasm." They laughed quietly.

Why they always ended up talking about feelings and such things in his bed, was a mystery to Eric. Each time he cringed at the thought of the next 'feelings session' but then he just couldn't. Because he had never been that close to someone before; both physically and emotionally. And it scared him and yet he couldn't feel more content that he currently was.

"Me too."

He tangled their legs together and closed his eyes.

.

.

.

* * *

_This is it._

_I hope you guys enjoyed reading my fanfiction as much as I did writing it. Well let's be honest, I hated writing some parts. But now that it's over… I can say that I loved writing and knowing that people actually read. It was a very fun experience and I'll definitely write something else._

_Thank you so much if you've reached the end of the story __J_

_Guys! I would love it if you could give my other fanfic a chance. It's called **When two forces collide** and the story means a lot to me!_

_All the love._


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